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androbot2084
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19 Apr 2011, 1:23 pm

Yes but what about the risk that your child will end up being a neurotypical?



Moog
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19 Apr 2011, 1:24 pm

I took a big jar of sperm I was saving to the charity shop once, they said they didn't want it.


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wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 1:26 pm

androbot2084 wrote:
Yes but what about the risk that your child will end up being a neurotypical?


But doctor, how can this be? He's speaking and he's only 2 and his eye contact is better than mine.

I'm so ashamed. No son of mine is going to grow up with emotional intelligence!


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swbluto
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19 Apr 2011, 1:39 pm

Zen wrote:
androbot2084 wrote:
Autistic genes are not all that bad. Sure you might end up with a low funtioning autistic but you could also end up with a genius.

Sperm roulette?


Yep, that's the name of the game. Einstein's son Eduard developed schizophrenia when he was 20, while his other son became a distinguished hydraulics professor of the University of California in Berkeley. So, in the game of genetic roulette, some win and some lose.

Personally, if you'd assume that half of Einstein's sons would become schizophrenic and the other half would become distinguished intellects, I'd prefer his sons (or people with a similar genetic odds/rewards profile) to replace the entire population. While half the population would be phucked, the other half of the population would make up with more than a redeeming amount of technological progress to make up for it, probably. Better than an over-sized population of lazy, imbecilic consumers whose entire quasi-purpose is to consume and reproduce. (Of which I am one, of course. lol)



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19 Apr 2011, 1:53 pm

Actually, if half the population were schizophrenic, society would restructure itself around schizophrenia, and it would be normal to be schizophrenic. You'd take your antipsychotics the same way people take their daily vitamins today.


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wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 2:02 pm

Callista wrote:
Actually, if half the population were schizophrenic, society would restructure itself around schizophrenia, and it would be normal to be schizophrenic. You'd take your antipsychotics the same way people take their daily vitamins today.


If half the population were schizophrenic, then nothing would ever get done. Think of maps written my psychotic minds.

There be monsters here -------->

NO! Really!! !


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Magnus_Rex
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19 Apr 2011, 2:23 pm

Terrible idea. Modern society is already doing an outstanding job in messing up natural selection. No need to help.

Society really needs to be more "laissez-faire"...



Callista
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19 Apr 2011, 2:36 pm

You know that phrase "survival of the fittest"? It doesn't mean what you think it means.

We think of "fit" as "healthy; superior; athletic." Yes? But back when that phrase was first coined, "fit" didn't really mean that. It meant something more like "appropriate". We still use the adjective "fitting" to mean that.

So what "survival of the fittest" means is "The individuals whose traits match their environment the best--those who find their niche--are the ones who can reproduce and whose genes will survive." It's not "survival of the healthiest". It's "survival of those who fill an ecological niche."

In modern society, filling a niche means being not a generalist but a specialist--a person who can contribute a high level of skill in a narrow area. NTs are social specialists, for example (and no wonder that they're the largest group; social specialists are needed to coordinate a society full of specialists in other areas). In modern society, if you can specialize in one area, a weakness in another area is irrelevant.

Additionally: You know the whole idea about "weeding out" defective genes from the gene pool, so you get a smaller number of "better" genes? That's actually bad for the species. What actually determines a species' survivability is not "strong genes" but a diverse gene pool. A diverse gene pool means that a species has individuals with many different traits, so that when the environment changes there will always be some individuals who have traits that will fit into that particular environment.

The whole idea of eugenics absolutely fails at science.


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19 Apr 2011, 2:42 pm

I don't quite get this whole aspies are harder to parent thing. My AS has kept me out of so much trouble I can't even believe it at times. Parenting an NT would be so much more difficult. Hell, that's the biggest reason why I never want to have kids of my own. I could never handle it. My parents are so lucky I am such a good kid. Personally I would love to be a sperm donor though. There needs to be more people in the world like me. All NT's do is reproduce at extreme rates, its as if they're born pregnant. They can't stay off of each other, and produce more NT's. The world is overrun by them. But where would the world be without aspies? Without the aspie making the arrowhead while everyone else is sitting down at the fire socializing, civilization would not be what it is today. I don't care what people say about AS being all negative and stuff. I think my genes should be continued on into the next generation, even though it goes against the theory of evolution.


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Magnus_Rex
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19 Apr 2011, 2:45 pm

Callista wrote:
We think of "fit" as "healthy; superior; athletic." Yes? But back when that phrase was first coined, "fit" didn't really mean that. It meant something more like "appropriate". We still use the adjective "fitting" to mean that.


Actually, I'm thinking more along the lines of empathy and social skills. Something like "if you can't spread your genes the old-fashioned way, don't spread them". In other words, adapted to the environment. Since men are social by nature, anyone who isn't capable of functioning in a society shouldn't be considered "fit".

And I said "laissez-faire", not eugenics. Laissez-faire means there is no intervention from either side.



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19 Apr 2011, 3:24 pm

wavefreak58 wrote:
Zen wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
If you are so impaired socially that you cannot find such a partner...

This idea alone negates the OP's idea of having superior genes. Why would you need to donate in order to spread your genes if you were not disabled in some way?


Heh heh. You caught that implication rather nicely 8)


Wanting to be a sperm donor is not narcissistic, it is perfectly normal to want children. The OP recognises that due to AS he may be undesirable and the young man is exploring possibilities. Narcissism could be expressed as WP posters bandying together as online alpha posters group and elitist talk down to young posters, additionally others who requote themselves, pat themselves on the back, because someone liked what they said or borrowed



wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 3:34 pm

Surfman wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
Zen wrote:
wavefreak58 wrote:
If you are so impaired socially that you cannot find such a partner...

This idea alone negates the OP's idea of having superior genes. Why would you need to donate in order to spread your genes if you were not disabled in some way?


Heh heh. You caught that implication rather nicely 8)


Wanting to be a sperm donor is not narcissistic, it is perfectly normal to want children. The OP recognises that due to AS he may be undesirable and the young man is exploring possibilities. Narcissism could be expressed as WP posters bandying together as online alpha posters group and elitist talk down to young posters, additionally others who requote themselves, pat themselves on the back, because someone liked what they said or borrowed


And you are the arbiter of decorum now?

Donating to a sperm bank because you think highly of yourself is a bit narcissistic - especially when failing to recognize the ethical considerations and the potential risks involved. If you don't think these are relevant perhaps you should offer a reasoned response instead of a wordy version of name calling.

Or you could go "donate" yourself.


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alexfromnorway
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19 Apr 2011, 4:06 pm

Imagine that a mother inseminated by a donor comes to the sperm bank and says "hey, my son has got a big birth mark on his forehead! Why was the father of my son accepted as a donor if this could happen to his offspring?"
That is ridiculous. If my child was an otherwise intelligent, handsome and healthy boy, I could not care less about the birth mark. No child is the same in shape, size and personality - inseminated mothers should also realize this. Because the father of your kid is a donor, doesn't mean that your child will be perfect.



wavefreak58
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19 Apr 2011, 4:35 pm

alexfromnorway wrote:
Imagine that a mother inseminated by a donor comes to the sperm bank and says "hey, my son has got a big birth mark on his forehead! Why was the father of my son accepted as a donor if this could happen to his offspring?"
That is ridiculous. If my child was an otherwise intelligent, handsome and healthy boy, I could not care less about the birth mark. No child is the same in shape, size and personality - inseminated mothers should also realize this. Because the father of your kid is a donor, doesn't mean that your child will be perfect.


Do you really consider a birth mark equivalent to severe autism? I'm not talking about perfection. I'm talking about risk. Are you suggesting that the risk of a severely autistic child coming from your genes is the same as someone not on the spectrum? Doesn't the recipient of a sperm donation have the right to assess that risk themselves?


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19 Apr 2011, 8:11 pm

Actually, as a woman who has used sperm donors (though only a few times, saving up for them is a pain) maybe I can offer something from the 'other side' of things.

What I look for, is if the donor is relatively healthy. Is he too overweight? What problems run through his family? It is not usual for a man's family to have nothing wrong, often there is at least something. Maybe a aunt has had heart disease, or a grandmother has had Alzheimers. This isn't too big of a deal, as long as the same disease doesn't run strongly in my family. Many have glasses, or medical things that aren't caused by genetics. One guy I looked at actually had uneven pupils! He got that from an injury to an eye. So it depends on what it is and what it's caused by.

Also there is something that isn't too often considered, but I wouldn't try to be sexually active with differant women if you are trying to get in. They WILL test for a bunch of stuff, and if you show antibodies for something you got from her, they will not accept you.

What I know is that most of the men that go through the donor checkout process don't get accepted as donors. Either because of age, or general health, substance abuse or STDs.

If you want to try to be one, the only advice would be from me would be to ask for an application and start the process. 8)

Edit: Even an NT can make an Autistic child. The chances go up with the age of the conceiving couple. I think for men this begins in their late 30s and 40s.


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19 Apr 2011, 11:28 pm

Callista wrote:
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I'm talking about the profoundly LFA people that don't talk or interact and are still not completely toilet trained their teens, and they need babysitters 24/7. Their quality of life is often debatable at best and taking care of them will require that the family completely revolve around them.
So am I. And yes, they can have friends.

Isn't it awfully presumptuous of you to insist they don't have a good quality of life, though? In reality, the severity of disability doesn't have any correlation with subjective measures of quality of life (that is--prevalence of positive emotion, one's satisfaction in life, the feeling of being accepted, etc.).

They often measure "quality of life" as mostly "how much stuff you can do for yourself", but that is totally unrelated to "happiness".

I've worked with autistic kids ranging from near catatonic to extremely high functioning savants and I agree that their level of functioning does not gauge their happy they are being themselves. However, if a prospective parent is aware that there is a very high risk that their kid may have a high probability of autism, then that prospective parent needs to seriously think about if they are physically, emotionally, and financially taking care of them and whatever disabilities they may have. If they can't accommodate that, then they really need to reconsider having kids, because then their life is likely to really suck.


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