Pitch meeting:
Twin studies suggest that 30–50% of the variation in political orientation can be attributed to genetic influences.
However, it is unlikely that a single “libertarian gene” exists. Rather, the propensity for a given political ideology appears to be polygenic, shaped by many small genetic variations, each with minor effects.
Traits such as openness to experience, risk tolerance, reactivity to authority, and sensitivity to disgust show heritability, and these in turn influence political beliefs.
If authoritarian governments can identify which fetuses are likely to resist their authority as adults, they may pressure parents to abort children with high “libertarian” polygenic test scores.
Past rebellion suppression campaigns are probably one of the reasons libertarians are not very common today. Libertarians do not like being forced to do anything. Therefore, they were likely overrepresented in past rebellions (and were therefore exterminated).
Currently, libertarians make up about 1–15% of the population (depending on how strictly you define “libertarian”). Defined as “people willing to vote for Libertarian Party candidates,” libertarians make up only about 1% of the population.
If libertarians want to avoid extermination in the future, they will need to increase their numbers rapidly. Otherwise, they will lack sufficient political, economic, or military power to resist extermination effectively.
Unfortunately, libertarianism is not very popular with women. Libertarian men outnumber women by 2:1. Moreover, the men and women who are attracted to the ideology generally do not want to have many children.
Therefore, I suggest that libertarians fund prizes to incentivize the development of reproductive technology that would allow libertarians to reproduce without the constraints of our biological past:
1. Artificial production of sperm and eggs (a.k.a. “gametogenesis”)
2. Artificial wombs
3. Nannybots
See link in comments for more details.
Twin studies suggest that 30–50% of the variation in political orientation can be attributed to genetic influences.
However, it is unlikely that a single “libertarian gene” exists. Rather, the propensity for a given political ideology appears to be polygenic, shaped by many small genetic variations, each with minor effects.
Traits such as openness to experience, risk tolerance, reactivity to authority, and sensitivity to disgust show heritability, and these in turn influence political beliefs.
If authoritarian governments can identify which fetuses are likely to resist their authority as adults, they may pressure parents to abort children with high “libertarian” polygenic test scores.
Past rebellion suppression campaigns are probably one of the reasons libertarians are not very common today. Libertarians do not like being forced to do anything. Therefore, they were likely overrepresented in past rebellions (and were therefore exterminated).
Currently, libertarians make up about 1–15% of the population (depending on how strictly you define “libertarian”). Defined as “people willing to vote for Libertarian Party candidates,” libertarians make up only about 1% of the population.
If libertarians want to avoid extermination in the future, they will need to increase their numbers rapidly. Otherwise, they will lack sufficient political, economic, or military power to resist extermination effectively.
Unfortunately, libertarianism is not very popular with women. Libertarian men outnumber women by 2:1. Moreover, the men and women who are attracted to the ideology generally do not want to have many children.
Therefore, I suggest that libertarians fund prizes to incentivize the development of reproductive technology that would allow libertarians to reproduce without the constraints of our biological past:
1. Artificial production of sperm and eggs (a.k.a. “gametogenesis”)
2. Artificial wombs
3. Nannybots
See link in comments for more details.