History Main / GeniusBreedingAct

[[NeverLiveItDown Note the frequent pairing]] with plots about eugenics and SocialDarwinist villains.

* ''Manga/DrStone'': In chapter 134 we find out that the wives of the island head in the Treasure Island Arc [[spoiler: were originally selected based on their memory skills, in order to properly pass down the 100 Tales without making any mistakes that would alter their meaning from generation to generation]]. A rare instance where this is portrayed as a positive thing as it's what results in [[spoiler: Soyuz having PhotographicMemory to begin with]].

* In the ''Fanfic/RelationshipsSeries'', The "Higher Ups" actually were pushing Yuuno to get with Nanoha and trying to keep Fate from being near Nanoha to push this through.

* The premise behind the 1994 romantic comedy ''Film/{{IQ}}''. UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein does some PlayingCyrano when his niece is attracted to a garage mechanic but insists on marrying an intelligent stuck-up JerkAss so their children will have a high IQ. Einstein and his fellow scientists make the mechanic look smarter than he is -- she eventually sees through the ruse but marries him anyway.

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' stories, the Earth is so overpopulated that each person only legally gets one child, and in order to have children at all, one has to not have bad genes (Albinism, a genetic trait Beowulf Shaeffer has, keeps him from legally being able to have children on Earth with his LoveInterest). A very few Einstein-level geniuses get Unlimited Breeding Licenses that basically allow them to have all the kids they want.
* Creator/CyrilMKornbluth played around with this in several stories; the basic premise was low-intelligence people outbred the smarter ones, with the end result being a society where the average IQ is about 45, and the few people of normal-and-above intelligence are basically forced to act as behind-the-scenes "keepers" of the general population. The normal-and-above elite are not numerous enough to do much of anything about it other than frantically breed among themselves to try to keep up and keep things running well enough to avoid famine, plague, and war (because 5 billion corpses mean about 500 million tons of rotting meat).

* Creator/MackReynolds' ''Section G'' series novel ''Brain World''. All of the initial settlers of the planet Einstein were required to have a minimum IQ of 130. They all bred with each other, and the result was a planet of geniuses with intellectual abilities far exceeding the rest of humanity.
* In David Brin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series, humans use both genetic engineering and selective breeding to improve the intelligence of their uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees. Most chimps and 'fins have to apply for a license to reproduce. The ones with unlimited breeding licenses are the smartest and most talented of their generation. It's stated that most alien clans have similar or stricter breeding programs for their client races.
* ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' (second book of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): It's mentioned that at one point, [[spoiler:Taravangian]] decreed that his subjects could only have children after passing an intelligence test, and that the least intelligent should commit suicide for the good of society. That would be when his handlers decided to stop allowing him freedom to alter policy on his brilliant days.

* In the first scene of the first episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Sheldon & Leonard go to a sperm bank that only accepts donations from people with high [=IQs=]. [[TVGenius Sheldon and Amy]] discuss having a child through artificial means, since they are both very intelligent too.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky "The Poison Sky"]], Luke Rattigan explains his master plan for a new world to the other {{Teen Genius}}es he'd collected, and mentions that he's written up a breeding program. They are appropriately appalled.
* This is initially assumed to be the case in an episode of ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'', where someone breaks into a sperm bank that stores donations from men with a high IQ and steals a number of samples. The truth turns out to be a little different.

* ''VideoGame/BeforeTheEcho'': [[spoiler: The entire plot of the game is the main leads are in a {{Batman Gambit}} arranged to make them fall in love and reproduce.]]

--> '''Artie''': "Okay, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered ''that'' myself."
* The Earth in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has a Gene Pool Improvement Act ("[[{{Tagline}} Evolution through legislative selection]]") that forbids people with low intelligence from having children naturally. Fortunately, there is the option of [[DesignerBabies buying improved genes]] from a genetic engineering company. That's indirectly how Tagon's Toughs ended up with Dr. Bunnigus -- her parents "had maybe 110 uncontested IQ points between them", but still wanted a kid. They selected a general package, then when she was older, she decides to sign up with a bunch of mercenaries...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' mentions a Genius Breeding Act from the last time aliens invaded Earth [[RunningGag (before the series begins).]] Farnsworth [[DirtyOldMan remembers it fondly]] because the invaders forced the smartest people on Earth to mate continuously, and he was disappointed that the latest alien invasion wasn't going to involve this.

->''"Last time aliens invaded all they did was force the most intelligent of us to pair off and mate continuously... Oh, yes..."''
-->-- '''Professor Hubert Farnsworth''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', applying an AnticipatoryBreathSpray

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* The premise behind the 1994 romantic comedy ''I.Q''. UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein does some PlayingCyrano when his niece is attracted to a garage mechanic but insists on marrying an intelligent stuck-up JerkAss so their children will have a high IQ. Einstein and his fellow scientists make the mechanic look smarter than he is -- she eventually sees through the ruse but marries him anyway.
* In the end of ''Film/DrStrangelove'', the titular doctor proposes a plan for surviving nuclear war that involves preserving the best of humanity in bunkers. Men would be chosen based on their leadership capabilities and wisdom, [[DoubleStandard women based on their appearance and reproductive capacity]]. The government figures, all of whom are men, are immediately on board with this plan.

* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' has a very developed version of this trope. Embryos are created in labs, and people are born into different classes: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Epsilon. These groups are engineered to have different intelligence levels both through genetic selection and differences in their artificial fetal environment; for example, an Alpha is made from Alpha gametes ''and'' incubated in an optimal fetal environment.
* In David Brin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series, humans use both genetic engineering and selective breeding to improve the intelligence of their uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees. Most chimps and 'fins have to apply for a license to reproduce. The ones with unlimited breeding licenses are the smartest and most talented of their generation. It's stated that most alien clans have similar or stricter breeding programs for their client races.

* In ''Literature/EndersGame'', this is mentioned as one reason the U.S. government allowed Ender to be born, despite their [[PopulationControl two-child policy]]. Since his parents and siblings were so intelligent, they figured any future kids would have to be around the same intelligence, and they still needed their military genius: someone who was not as sadistic as Peter while not nearly as compassionate as Valentine.
* Creator/CyrilMKornbluth played around with this in several stories; the basic premise was low-intelligence people outbred the smarter ones, with the end result being a society where the average IQ is about 45, and the few people of normal-and-above intelligence are basically forced to act as behind-the-scenes "keepers" of the general population. The normal-and-above elite are not numerous enough to do much of anything about it other than frantically breed among themselves to try to keep up and keep things running well enough to avoid famine, plague, and war (because 5 billion corpses mean about 500 million tons of rotting meat).

* ''Literature/HiveMind2016'': Hives are allowed to choose limited numbers of individuals who can have 'duty children' via surrogate mothers. One in one thousand is allowed to have six duty children; one in one million is allowed to have twenty-five. Duty children can be raised by the parents or adopted out; there is high demand for them as adoptive children due to the high likelihood that they will come out of Lottery at a high level.

* Different anthropoid species, but in ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', a summons is sent for "superior" male chimpanzees to be brought to an ape-breeding facility. Caesar is selected and shut away with a female, who is seen batting her eyes at him.
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[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' dealt with smart and/or successful men getting sperm-jacked by an unscrupulous woman and her mother for use at a geniuses-only sperm bank. Interestingly, the father of one such baby ends up seeing the wisdom of breeding high [=IQs=], if not the means.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In "The Slice Girls", Dean's one-night stand turns out to be an Amazon demon looking to ConceiveAndKill. The Amazons select mates who are handsome, [[BrainsAndBrawn healthy, and clever]] and when Sam asks how Dean [[BookDumb fit the last of these categories]], Dean bashfully admits to having pretended to be an investment banker.

* Cyril Kornbluth played around with this in several stories; the basic premise was low-intelligence people outbred the smarter ones, with the end result being a society where the average IQ is about 45, and the few people of normal-and-above intelligence are basically forced to act as behind-the-scenes "keepers" of the general population. The normal-and-above elite are not numerous enough to do much of anything about it other than frantically breed among themselves to try to keep up and keep things running well enough to avoid famine, plague, and war (because 5 billion corpses mean about 500 million tons of rotting meat).

* The Earth in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has a Gene Pool Improvement Act ("[[{{Tagline}} Evolution through legislative selection]]") that forbids people with low intelligence from having children naturally. Fortunately, there is the option of [[DesignerBabies buying improved genes]] from a genetic engineering company. That's indirectly how Tagon's Toughs ended up with Dr. Bunnigus -- her parents "had maybe 83 uncontested IQ points between them", but still wanted a kid. They selected a general package, then when she was older, she decides to sign up with a bunch of mercenaries...

* The genetically engineered genius hamsters in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' plan to harness the brain power of the human race by kidnapping hundreds of geniuses and starting a breeding colony.

* The Earth in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has a Gene Pool Improvement Act ("[[{{Tagline}} Evolution through legislative selection]]") that forbids people with low intelligence from having children naturally. Fortunately, there is the option of buying improved genes from a genetic engineering company. That's indirectly how Tagon's Toughs ended up with Dr Bunnigus -- her parents "had maybe 83 uncontested IQ points between them", but still wanted a kid. They selected a general package, then when she was older, she decides to sign up with a bunch of mercenaries....

-->-- '''Professor Hubert Farnsworth''', '''''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''''', applying an AnticipatoryBreathSpray

** Incidentally, Farnsworth does in fact have a son with Mom, who while perhaps not as smart as him is still a very intelligent person in her own right; the son in question however is [[TheDitz Igner]], the dumbest of her three children, proving that two smart people breeding doesn't automatically create a smart child. Her other two, at least one of which she had with Farnsworths' rival Wernstrom (probably both, but only one is confirmed), are not as dumb as Igner, but neither are they especially clever either.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Reportedly evoked at a social gathering, when Creator/MarilynMonroe spotted UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein and said "Imagine if me and Einstein had a baby. It could be perfect: beautiful like me and smart like him!" When Einstein got word of this, he remarked "What if it turns out the opposite? Ugly like me and dumb like her?"
* Many eugenicists tried to do this, with "Better Baby" or "Fitter Family" contests in the early twentieth century being popular as a result of "eugenic marriages". Genetics was little understood then, and they claimed many traits were hereditary that it turned out [[ScienceMarchesOn weren't]], so the result was poor. The Nazis also attempted to do this with their "Lebensborn" program, having SS members sire children with selected women in Germany. Again, there's no evidence the children were much better than anyone else. The 1990s saw people try to set up a sperm bank with samples from Nobel Prize Winners (the debate about how hereditary intelligence is came back into the public eye at the time). One scientists asked roundly mocked the idea, saying if they wanted to get sperm that produces geniuses, they should go to people like his own father, a humble immigrant tailor. It's still hotly debated just how feasible such an idea is (aside from ethical issues, as the corollary of preventing "unfit" people reproducing also occurred) but many desirable traits seem to have tradeoffs that usually aren't accounted for (such as higher intelligence being highly correlated with mental illnesses, personality disorders and autism which can be very difficult to handle).
[[/folder]]

* In the first scene of the first episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Sheldon & Leonard go to a sperm bank that only accepts donations from people with high [=IQs=].
** [[TVGenius Sheldon and Amy]] discuss having a child through artificial means, since they are both very intelligent.

* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' dealt with smart and/or successful men getting sperm-jacked by an unscrupulous woman and her mother for use at a geniuses-only sperm bank.
** Interestingly, the father of one such baby ends up seeing the wisdom of breeding high [=IQs=], if not the means.

[[folder:FanFiction]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', Rattigan explains his master plan for a new world to the other {{Teen Genius}}es he'd collected, and mentions that he's written up a breeding program. They are appropriately appalled.

* This is initially assumed to be the case in an episode of ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'', where someone breaks into a sperm bank that stores donations from men with a high IQ and steals a number of samples. The truth turns out to be a little different.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The genetically engineered genius hamsters in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' plan to harness the brain power of the human race by kidnapping hundreds of geniuses and starting a breeding colony.