Alright, albeit I understand the purpose of such a book, but Pregnancy for Dummies? Really? Can't you just feel the sardonic ironic as a tightly wrapped pall one might feel they can't remove?

The Australian government introduced a "Baby Bonus Scheme" as an incentive for people to have more children to boost the economy - $6000 a baby.

Now, nearly every woman I see around here thats of breeding age are just pumping them out- two in the pram, and another one on the way('Can hardly wait till I drop this bundle Hank, then we can get that Flat-screen we've been hangin' for")

All I see is a bunch of walking incubators.

Maybe a more extreme measure would be implementing compulsory birth control for all,and performing a "competency test" and undergoing a physical /mental evaluation before being able to breed.

Many scientists and mathematicians may be poor candidates for parenthood because they lack the necessary nurturing skills.

A sane proposal would be to target the top scientists and mathematicians and offer them $600,000 for each kid.

It's beginning to occur to me that maybe this is nature's way of creating some sort of equilibrium to the situation.

If you knew just a little bit more about science you wouldn't have made this statement. Smart parents doesn't necessary breed intelligent children.

While it would be wonderful to dump a load of sterilizers in the water supplies of ghettos and trailer parks, I think it would work against a country's best interest.

Take a look at Japan, where their birth rates have slowed to the point where there are now more elderly people than babies born to replace them. Companies like Canon have decided that twice a week, their employees will be sent home a few hours early, in order to reconnect with their families and hopefully produce some new babies.

There are plenty of smart kids that are born to dumb-assed parents...

the woman who just had 8 babies has 6 more at home. where she lives with her parents. read the comments too. link

Maybe its because I can't keep a plant alive for over 48 hours. Or maybe it has something to do the fact that I come from a long (and almost completely extinct) line of daredevils and psychopaths. Maybe, just maybe, something is putting a stop to this bloodline of crazies. Or maybe it's just radiation from New Jersey.

Lots of maybes there.

But on the flip side, I feel like there must be some reason the process was defunct in the first place.

Just because we have the technology to overcome such a thing, does that me we should?

I personally would license procreation and the requirements for obtaining a license would be as follows:

1. Annual income at least quadruple the poverty level.

2. Psychological exam to weed out gross abnormalities.

3. Background check by private detective to weed out criminality.

4. Successful completion of a parenthood training program.

5. Ten thousand dollars in cash.

Don't forget a minimum High School diploma or GED equivalent. Sticking with school (or at least going back to try) shows responsibility. Although my mom dropped out of HS, and later got her GED, I turned out decently.

You'd also have to stipulate that the 10K would be set aside in a trust fund to be used only for the kid, or something. Otherwise, they could save up the 10K and blow it on a plasma or a new car after they obtain their license.

-Well there then, you are proving my point. You are bashing my ideas of deciding who should have children and at the same time doing it yourself. So is there, then, nothing wrong with it? Or are you exempt?

This whole argument, I predict, is about to get really ugly, so I will choose self-control by not adding or trying to detract from it at this point

We are a life form and we reproduce. It is our ONLY purpose.

Maybe then they'll realize that society is nothing but a beehive where not too many are important. If you wanna solve the problem, kill the queen. Then destroy the hive.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE.
A new kind of society cannot be designed on paper. That is, you cannot plan out a new form of society in advance, then set it up and expect it to function as it was designed to.

And how exactly do you think this is going to be policed?

Make getting pregnant illegal, or make getting someone else pregnant illegal?

Come on, you are talking stupid pipe dreams.

We are a life form and we reproduce. It is our ONLY purpose.

If you wanna solve the problem, kill the queen. Then destroy the hive.
All the rest is futile.

Under our current "vote for me because you like my hair" political regime, you're right, measures that would be perceived as Draconian by some could never be enforced.

Meanwhile China did a good job of enforcing their one child per family rule.

I tend to be a Fascist at heart. My Fascism is capitalist. Capitalist Fascism would work nicely in a country like the USA where militarism is already big business and nationalism is already ingrained in the multitude.

nice quote. I did a painting of him a few years ago and no one knew who it was. I shouldve sent it to you.

Sure the computer is a nice thing but would I die without? It's one of those questions that keeps me wondering. Our rationale tells us; sure we can do without, no sweat, but our rationale is seldom put to the test, so are we fooling ourselves or not?

I could see people who are so used to having the constant stimulation of computers, tv, cell phones, etc, going nuts from being without. Oh sure, we're not going to literally die, but it would be like a junkie going cold-turkey--we'd be jonesing just to check our email, or see if we got any text messages, or look up "how to make quilts" on Google. Just once, real quick man...it'd only take a minute!

No one is going to topple any regimes here. If that were the goal, this would be a forum for Idealism, and not Satanism.

There is a movie, Idiocracy, I see that becoming reality if we don't stem the mass reproduction of all the stupid people.

This sounds real bad to me. Please show me the error of my thinking here.

Anyway, if breeding of "lower intelligent" humans continues to rise, what does this say about natural selection for fuck's sake?

Natural selection doesn't care about smart or even physical deformities.

Retard could prosper because they at the same time would have an immunity towards something that kills the breed of smart ones.

Yes, this is the shit that keeps me up at night. Then it seems we're back to the point that society seems to encourage whether willfully or not their continued survival. They produce and consume and can be easily manipulated. Would be any government's dream come true. Right out of your favorite Orwellian style dreamscape.

Now as for what we will do with them, well that hasnt been totally figured out yet ...

But as a conclusion to this reply id say we dont HAVE to make that choice if we took some kind of action to fix it

we need to not only keep kids away from those people but find a way to make them dissapear from the TV or radio or w/e there on that makes them so popular.

Re: AntiChris' statement, "They produce and consume and can be easily manipulated." - I'm still busy working on a solid exploit for this one. All I know is that when I figure it out I'll be too busy picking out curtains for my new tax sheltered home in Monaco to worry about it.

Suggested Reading: Understanding Stupidity by James F. Welles, Ph. D.

See: Defining Stupidity

Re: AntiChris' statement, "They produce and consume and can be easily manipulated." - I'm still busy working on a solid exploit for this one. All I know is that when I figure it out I'll be too busy picking out curtains for my new tax sheltered home in Monaco to worry about it.

No farmer got worried because he bred more sheep. He just sent them all off to market as usual and banked the rewards.

You know, you could actually try to read a book about human behaviour... if you are smart enough answers to exploit others can be drawn from it. That instead of saying you are going to... No one ever managed to build a brick house without the proper tools..

But I did find it interesting that women are determined to be their prettiest at the most fertile stage of ovulation. Scientists photographed women over the course of 1 month, and sho'nuff on the most fertile day of their cycle their faces were consistently determined to be the most healthy looking and attractive.

Determined by male scientists, I wonder? It would be an interesting twist if the real discovery here is that males find women most attractive when women are ovulating.

You hit the nail on the head- that's the exact outcome of their experiments.

They also proved that women show significantly more skin and shake their hips more during that time as well. Don't say you weren't warned =P

I prefer self control, awareness, and a pinch of discipline.

There is a movie, Idiocracy, I see that becoming reality if we don't stem the mass reproduction of all the stupid people.