Dating remains the same in philosophy as it has throughout the centuries, where men and women either seek each other out or are paired off in order to produce a family. The form of dating has changed throughout time, and new tools of technology have aided this.
The Internet provided a major change because it depersonalized as well as expanded, theoretically speaking, the pool of potential applicants as a person could “meet” somebody thousands of miles away easily, and if one did not like that person (in the virtual world), one could just “get rid” of him or her and move on to another.
One of the major challenges with online dating and the Smartphone is that, as many have pointed out, it has allowed people to either portray or cultivate in themselves an inflated sense of self-worth. This has been particularly an issue with women, who feeding off of the attention from men sending them “messages” online seeking a date and the large numbers of men sending the same message to many women just trying to get a date has created a vicious feedback cycle where women are now attempting to pursue the “best” men even if they are not the “best women”, and the average man has been veritably locked out of the dating pool even though he may be in it. Thus a very small percent of men are swimming in more women than what they can possibly deal with, let alone have a relationship with, and a majority of men have nothing.
This problem is bad in the Americas and Europe, but it is a serious issue in East Asia, where due to sex-selective abortion and sometimes post-birth murder of girls for cultural reasons, there is a tremendous imbalance that has been created between men and women by there being more men than women and thus have the same problem above that is taking place in the west, but with the added stress of the changes the Internet has brought. Countless Chinese and Indian men in particular are desperate for love, and yet, their own women make increasingly more intense demands of them. However, since many Chinese and Indian women love “white” men, even many of the “best” of their own peoples will be quickly jettisoned for an average-looking American white guy who goes to China or India.
A recent story out of Japan discussed this, where women in China are now paying money for sperm from white men so they can have half-asian, half-European babies.
Unmarried women in China are largely barred from accessing sperm banks and in vitro fertilization treatment, forcing them to seek options abroad.
After making her choice — donor No. 14471 on the website of a California sperm bank — she flew to the U.S. to begin the first rounds of treatment.
“There are many women who won’t get married, so they might not fulfill this fundamental biological mission,” said Xiaogunzhu. She blogs under that pseudonym to avoid any negative attention. “But I felt another path had opened up.”
Her baby, now 9 months old, is named Oscar after a character in a comic about the French revolution — a nod to the donor’s French ancestry.
The marriage rate in China has been in decline over the last five years. Last year, only 7.2 out of 1,000 people got married, according to official statistics.
Educated professional women face discrimination when seeking spouses, explained sociologist Sandy To, because their male partners have “difficulty accepting their higher educational or economic accomplishments.”
But many feel that struggling to find or simply not wanting a partner should not preclude them from motherhood.
Xiaogunzhu believes a father is not necessary — her own father was controlling and often angry, dimming her view of the traditional family set-up.
“Why does everyone think that children will ask, ‘Why don’t I have a father?’” she said.
Analysts predict that the total market in China for fertility services will reach $1.5 billion in 2022 — more than double its 2016 value.
But demand for services overseas for Chinese nationals is also booming.
The Danish sperm and egg bank Cryos International has created a Chinese website and added Chinese-speaking staffers. American and European sperm banks have increasing numbers of Chinese clients. (source)
One might say that there is such an idea as to a “standard” of beauty that exists around the world in some way, and has been seen throughout time. To that, some have used this observation to advocate for a sort of “eugenics” in dating, where only certain kinds of people should have children, and other kinds should not. This is something of the idea suggested by the Japanese story, where these women are choosing to be inseminated by men of another race because they want more “attractive” children, as though their own could not provide this by their own assumptions.
Now to that, there is a new dating app that is being created and supposedly will match people on the basis of their genetics.
Harvard biologist George Church already had to apologize for palling around with Jeffrey Epstein even after the financier pleaded to guilty to preying on minors a decade ago. Now he’s raising eyebrows again—with plans for a genetics-based dating app.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Church said his technology would pair people based on the propensity of their genes, when combined in children, to eliminate hereditary diseases.
“That sounds like eugenics,” Fordham adjunct ethics professor and science journalist Elizabeth Yuko, who studies bioethics, told The Daily Beast on Monday. (The tech and science news site Gizmodo called Church’s idea “an app only a eugenicist could love.”)
Yuko compared the app, as described, to the Nazi goal of cultivating a master race: “I thought we realized after World War II that we weren’t going to be doing that,” she said.
Church was part of the coterie of scientists with whom Epstein ingratiated himself via large donations, and Epstein helped bankroll his lab from 2005 to 2007. Church has admitted he repeatedly met and spoke with Epstein for years after the 2008 plea deal that landed him on the sex-offender registry.
Epstein had a twisted take on genetics, hosting scientific conferences at which he expressed his desire to propagate his own genome by impregnating up to 20 women at a time at his New Mexico ranch, like cattle stock.
In the 60 Minutes interview, Church called his ties to Epstein “unfortunate” and added: “You don’t always know your donors as well as you would like.”
…
“You wouldn’t find out who you’re not compatible with. You’ll just find out who you are compatible with,” Church said.
“You’re suggesting that if everyone has their genome sequenced and the correct matches are made, that all of these diseases could be eliminated?” 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley asked.
“Right. It’s 7,000 diseases. It’s about 5% of the population. It’s about a trillion dollars a year, worldwide,” Church said.
The geneticist didn’t drop the app’s name (“Punnett Square,” anyone?) or how far along it is in development. He also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In the interview, Church acknowledged the drawbacks of genetic sorting. He suffers from dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and narcolepsy—disorders that might render him an incompatible match to many.
“If somebody had sequenced your genome some years ago, you might not have made the grade in some way,” Pelley said.
“I mean, that’s true,” Church replied. “I would hope that society sees the benefit of diversity, not just ancestral diversity, but in our abilities. There’s no perfect person. (source)
Eugenics changes forms throughout history, and in a sense, even in the best case, there is almost always a “eugenic” quality to dating. I do not say this to support darwinian philosophy, or other moral evils, or to advocate that “certain” people should not date others, but rather to observe that people have preferences that are not necessarily based on an active hatred of another, but because it is something they like. It could be a certain hair color, eye color, body type, status, or something else, but certain people are “excluded” by others for certain reasons. For example, a very short man may seek out a very tall woman to date because he does not want his kids to be short like him. This is a sort of eugenics, but it is not necessarily an inherently evil thing. Likewise, certain black men may seek out dating only women who are also black because they genuinely find black women more attractive. This is likewise similar to our example of the short man above, and as long as it is not taken to excessive views, it is not necessarily a bad thing because people naturally have preferences, and there is nothing wrong with that just as much as one person may prefer mayonnaise on his ham sandwich while another hates mayo and only likes mustard or ketchup.
But this idea of “genetic dating” has nothing to do with preferences, and the same with the seemingly insatiable lust of these asian women to be impregnated by semen from western men. What appears to be happening here is a socialized version of a new development in eugenics, which is a modern revival of the concept of “selective breeding”, something that has been done by cultures before, but this time with technology and whereas in the past there was usually not “consent” given, this time with consent.
We know that the western world is seeing a revival of eugenics, and it is expanding throughout the globe. China has made no secret of her eugenic desires, and likewise India too. The idea of “genetic dating” in that sense could be similar to attempts to, as the Japan Times story notes, create a “master race” of people by selecting the most “superior qualities” and “most worthy” of “breeding”, while at the same time attempting to restrict or even exterminate those who are considered “unworthy” of “breeding.”
But this is where the desires of eugenicists meet reality, which is that while genetics is real and there are certain characteristics that can be passed on, the fact is that the soul surpasses everything, and giabs or talents are not necessarily tied to genetics, but to spiritual graces. Just as St. John the Baptist told the Pharisees that they should not presume salvation because they were “sons of Abraham”- an ancient term for racism, or perhaps “genetic superiority”, something so lauded by many of the modern Pharisees -salvation does not come from race but by grace. This is the grave error of the false Jews who rejected the true perfection of Judaism and the New Israel, which is Christ and His teachings, and those who follow Him and who are Christians. The Christian recognizes things such as genetics and differences, but ultimately does not bind his salvation or success to it, rather seeing it as one of the many blessings that God gives to different people in different ways. The Talmudist, however, reverses this by elevating racial superiority- genetic superiority -and specifically that of his own “tribe” to create a new kind of nationalistic, blood-rooted tribal warfare where might is the force of right and worldly power is representative of spiritual power because of “superior genes”.
As St. Mary said during her praise after accepting the will of God to bear the Son of God, she said “His mercy is on those who fear Him, in every generation.”
God’s mercy is not conditional upon genetics, and while it is OK and good to have preferences, it is never OK to elevate them above the universality of all men as equal in dignity as creations in the image and likeness of God. The three sons of Noah- Ham, Japheth, and Shem -may be different, but none are animals, and neither are their children.
It will be an interesting trend to watch and see if concepts such as “genetic dating” take root in the future, as well as the entire fertility “market”, for as birthrates continue to decline around the world, the world becomes “smaller” in terms of her ability to communicate between peoples, the difficulties between men and women in normal relationships becomes harder, and the calls for tribalism and eugenics become more socially accepted views, one cannot help but wonder if in the future, “breeding” will not only be encouraged to be “regulated”, but also a normal thing to check the “genetic compatability” of a potential mate before having a relationship.
Science fiction and “cyberpunk” is no longer something of the past, but it is the future and the future is now. Eugenics has not disappeared, but simply has mutated form by means of technology that are allowing the fantasies of ages past to become contemporary reality.
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