Numerous studies in the past two years show that CRISPR-based interventions can correct mutations and restore cellular and behavioral function in mouse models of brain diseases. Diseases caused by mutations in genes associated with brain functions - like alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), Huntington’s disease, and Friedreich’s ataxia- have seen major improvements in mice that have had their brains gene edited.
This raises a fascinating possibility - what if this gene editing could go beyond correcting diseases? What if you could get an IQ boost of 20-30 points? For obvious reasons, this would be huge for people on a personal level, but it would also have political effects. What would society be like if everyone were 30 IQ points smarter?
Brain editing now ‘closer to reality’: the gene-altering tools tackling deadly disorders: Stunning results in mice herald gene-editing advances for neurological diseases.
Curing neurological diseases isn't the same as bumping up IQ.
But 30 points is fucking huge...
Like, that's the difference between dead center "average" and a legal intellectual disability.
Because 30 points is where communication becomes hindered.
So if everyone got a 30 point bump, it would change absolutely nothing. The people being manipulated would be 30 points smarter, but so would the people manipulating them.
IQ just isn't a big deal, that's why they dropped the threshold for "genius" from 160 to 120 and added things like motivation and drive.
What really matters is the difference between people