TL;DR: Musk has 23 kids and NDAs with (most or all of) the mothers because he wants them to be his Mars scions well I finally fiinished the rest of the article and I got trolled where I got this from, it doesn't say that. I'm sorry

this was what :will-fancy: was speculating about in the last listenable Chapo episode

  • TillieNeuen [she/her]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Genomic Prediction is one of the first companies to offer PGT-P, a controversial new type of genetic testing that allows parents who are undergoing in vitro fertilization to select the "best" available embryos based on a variety of polygenic risk factors.

    Oh no, they're doing Gattaca.

    "We are the Underground Railroad of 'Gattaca' babies and people who want to do genetic stuff with their kids," Malcolm told me.

    Oh no, THEY KNOW THEY'RE DOING GATTACA.

    Somehow, that's worse to me.

    Edit because it just keeps getting worse.

    Together they write books and work in the VC and private-equity worlds. Simone has previously served as managing director for Dialog, the secretive retreat cofounded by Thiel.

    I see Thiel's name, and the Kill Bill siren starts going off in my head. I genuinely wish that man would drop dead.

    • TillieNeuen [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I found a new philosophy to hate.

      While pronatalism is often associated with religious extremism, the version now trending in this community has more in common with dystopian sci-fi. The Collinses, who identify as secular Calvinists, are particularly drawn to the tenet of predestination, which suggests that certain people are chosen to be superior on earth and that free will is an illusion. They believe pronatalism is a natural extension of the philosophical movements sweeping tech hubs like the Silicon Hills of Austin, Texas.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
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        edit-2
        2 years ago

        and that free will is an illusion

        Determinism stop being flypaper for the most arrogant and obnoxious assholes on the planet challenge.

        Disclaimer: I'm not even saying that determinism is certain to be wrong. I'm saying the ideology nonetheless tends to draw in some of the most arrogant and obnoxious assholes on the planet.

        • emizeko [they/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          2 years ago

          agreed with the flypaper comment. I like Matt's formulation here: even though you have to act as though you have free will, you know that everyone else doesn't, and you don't either— you just can't tell how, what is making you do the thing you're doing, and that is also consciousness. they're inextricably linked

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
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            edit-2
            2 years ago

            There's even a fandom overlap with "simulation theory" types and my same answer applies to both: so what?

            At best there's nothing that can really be done about it. At worst some techbro could find some way to make life even worse for everyone by applying "deterministic" principles in some new Torment Nexus way while seeing everyone as "NPCs" and therefore beneath concern for their suffering. I've yet to hear a proposal about how to change how society works "because free will don't real" that doesn't involve making things actually worse.

      • TillieNeuen [she/her]
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        2 years ago

        Musk was echoing an argument made by Nick Bostrom, one of the founding fathers of longtermism, who wrote that he worried declining fertility among "intellectually talented individuals" could lead to the demise of "advanced civilized society." Émile P. Torres, a former longtermist philosopher who has become one of the movement's most outspoken critics, put it more bluntly: "The longtermist view itself implies that really, people in rich countries matter more." A source who worked closely with Musk for several years described this thinking as core to the billionaire's pronatalist ideology. "He's very serious about the idea that your wealth is directly linked to your IQ," he said. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for this article, also said Musk urged "all the rich men he knew" to have as many children as possible.

        This article is really something :agony-limitless:

        • TillieNeuen [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Sitting around the breakfast table after the 6 a.m. day-care drop-off and "morning strategy walk" the Collinses take every day, Malcolm read aloud a text message from his mother. She wanted to know how he and Simone planned to monetize their pronatalism "hobby." "Remember: Everything is transactional," she texted.

          I need to stop reading this article, I think it's breaking my brain.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
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            2 years ago

            “Remember: Everything is transactional,” she texted.

            These freaks are empty inside and lonely in a way where they deserve it.

            • TillieNeuen [she/her]
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              2 years ago

              Imagine your sweet old granny texting your parents “Remember: Everything is transactional.” Who are these people? Are they human?