Geoffrey MillerVerified account

Imagine a drug which, with no side effects, boosts IQ 10 points. Should it be a) Banned b) Sold c) Made freely available on NHS d) Put in the public water supply? Now, instead of a drug, ask analogous questions of an IQ-boosting gene which could be inserted in zygote genomes.

b), to incentivize development of even better nootropics in the future.

Ok I'll try. Today you can buy an entire cabinet of medicines, cheap as chips, that a generation ago weren't available to anyone at any price. The system which generated this favours rich people who can afford the drugs when they first hit the market /1

This system may not be fair but its proponents argue that it's the best way of keeping the innovative conveyor belt going. IOW rich westerners today are paying huge money to fund the future health of poorer non westerners /2

We know it works. We don't know if a "fairer" system would also work. But we do know that economic systems which attempted socialised drug discovery produced shag all /3