To agree that stupid people are breeding more than smart ones

[Holamum]

I read this article and the comments. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22002530

It is not unrealistic that the human race will be extinct one day, especially since the sun is probably finite.

There was a comment on that page that refers to Mike Judge's film Indiocracy - suggesting the problem is that stupid people are breeding more than intelligent people because smart people are more responsible. The film is a comedy but the commentator says 'it's bang on the money on what's happening at the moment'.

I actually found myself agreeing. Most of the intelligent people I know have as many children as they can afford (which is one or two maximum).

AIBU to think this?

Oh be quiet please you must know yabu.

The likelihood is that the planet will outlive us by quite a long way. The Human Race will go extinct, as many creatures have before us, because of something, nobody knows- whatever wiped out the Dinosaurs, who were on this planet far longer than we have been, or something else. The argument you have given has been given for most of the last century. Social Darwinism and the Eugenics movement argued the same thing and well, that ended well, didn't it? People have babies. The more educated the population gets, the fewer babies they will have. It's not about stupidity, but the lack of education and opportunities.

Am guessing that the OP has a number of children then

I only have one....

the multiple birth anomaly which is an exception rather than the rule aside, life is expensive, success is measured in wealth. and capitalist society fuels itself by perpetuating this mantra.

so, it is what it is - success is measured in wealth - taking that as the core argument, an uneducated person from a poor background, should have one child.

That uneducated person, does everything within his or her power to afford the best education for that child, the child then grows up to be well qualified, good university - not the best - his parents couldn't afford the best.

that educated person - now in firmly economic middle class meets similar they then have one child

that child best education 2 mc parents can afford - which is better than they had one of the top schools in the country

that person is now mixing with toffs - but of course cannot really be one

his child uses the same formula as above marries toff, toff kid

now all the very intelligent people have bred, there are no stupid people left to pay minimum wage, to run their respective empires

this makes the above people stupid

you need stupid people in a capitalist society - then you can exploit them and keep yourself rich

What do you mean by intelligent?

IQ?

common sense?

Or do you actually mean education and opportunities more than the level of actual intelligence a person was born with?

If anything, that article indicates that it is the 'intelligent' that will kill us all with the consequences of their super technology.

In which case, perhaps the stupid should inherit the earth.

What on earth has stupidity have to do with how many kids you have?
I've got one, does that make me a genius?
Having said that, you just have to look at facebook to realise there are some incredibly thick people around but there always were, we just notice more because of social media.

I don't think that degrees or qualifications are a way of assessing intelligence. A lot of working class people are happy and have happy children. They have more sense than to spend their fertile years building a career to find that they cannot have children when they hit 38 and finally decide that they are "ready" to have children.

Thanks - you've been challenging my unintelligent little brain.

I think I phrased this post really badly as it could have led to an interesting discussion.

I have a degree, Masters degree, a university diploma and a professional qualification (from a university). I have three children - the third being somewhat...ahem...unplanned. I also married a man who turned out to be a wanker - took 12 years for it to really show, but my goodness, when he let it go, he let it go!

I support my children by working full time using my professional qualification. I am quite useful, apparently, as I work in a 'shortage area' so my skills and experience are sought after. However, I earn a little above average wage so rely on tax credits to help my pay for childcare.

My children have mild 'special needs/learning difficulties' and I doubt they will go to university. Their father is also educated to Masters degree level.

Where does that leave me and my family?!

"it could have led to an interesting discussion." So we've all made dull little contributions then? ta. Clearly we're the thickies of mumsnet too.

Yabu to have used the term 'breeding' - ugh. And your premise is ridiculously simplistic. But then I have 3 children, so what do I know? Also have a PhD (as does DH).

I agree with the OP. And I think we need a licensing system to have children, everyone can have one, some can have two, only the most gifted and amazing can have three or more. Eugenics was given a bad name by the Nazis but it really has a lot to offer the human race.

OMG, you have got to be kiddin me. Licencing? Who is going to be deciding then? What I genius me does not want to breed? Inseminate me, for future benefits? What are we, stock?
How can you be so blinkered?

licensing! What if!
see, I'm not that smart after all...

Licencing? Who is going to be deciding then?

It'll be the Lebensborn programme.

I found the article very interesting, but the link I clicked on wasn't talking about the dangers of "stupid" people "outbreeding" "clever" people.

If anything it seemed to be arguing that our very intelligence is the greatest threat to us because our ability to innovate outstrips our ability to predict, or deal with, the consequences of our innovations.

In the world that our children inherit, who's to say which traits will be most adaptive? What will be "clever" and what will be "stupid"? Those things are highly context dependent.

If I stepped back into the Middle Ages I expect I would be considered an idiot. Sure, I know about hygiene and a few other things, but given my bizarre speech, habits, giant appearance and complete ignorance of the most basic skills of life, why would they believe me?

Overheard in the staff room .....

"if they did away with (SCBU) infant care and let nature take its course we wouldnt be having the stress of teaching these retards"

"theres a reason people leave babies on mountains"

"ADHD? Wolves eat the feeble"

Not my opinion I hasten to add.

I've got 4, ds went to Uni, dd g and t on track for Russell group,other two in paid employment, one with deferred Uni place, dh and I both went to Uni, so what's your point?

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=icmRCixQrx8

By stupid, do you mean narrow minded and bigoted?

It'll be the Lebensborn programme.

My thoughts... Fascisme is so nicely ordened don't you think?

For what it's worth, the carbon footprint of the so called smart rich people is considerably larger that that of the poor fuckers. The end of the world will be brought along quite a bit faster by them - not that responsible in that aspect but hey, who's counting. Oh yes... let's count kids and draw conclusions from that.

YANBU but not PC either, so will no doubt be crucified on this thread.

I'm thick and poor.
I was only have one child though so at least I did something right.

I believe it's not really true more intelligent/successful/wealthy people are having fewer children than the rest.

Some people worry that the "wrong sort of people" are having to many children. I don't think they need to worry.

Despite the occasional tabloid story about large families claiming lots of benefits, I saw something in the Economist recently that indicated that the average number of children had by people on benefits didn't differ significantly from the number had by wealthier people.

The recent BBC documentary on world population showed that the global birth-rate has already stabilised, i.e. the worldwide number of births per year is no longer increasing. So we don't need to worry about poor people in third-world countries having too many children either.

I don't mean to suggest that people on benefits or poor people in third-world countries aren't intelligent, I mention them only because they are categories of people who some people worry about when they think birth-rate is out-of-control.