Am I Being Scammed?

[Anonymous]

I think you need those IQ points more than your embryos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so normal PGS on a batch of embryos is $5-8,000.

1) you're talking about trusting a unknown startup with a critical medical test that you cannot do-over, at a cost 5-9 times what a regular PGS should be

2) if you're considering this on already extant embryos, you are likely going to kill the whole batch with the thaw/sample/freeze process. people only consider doing this when there is a deadly genetic issue that they are trying to avoid.

3) economic status is still the best predictor of success. invest the $40k now in a 529, provide love and support to whatever kids you get.

They are analyzing the SNP data from the lab where my clinic sent the biopsy samples. This company also collects DNA from both of the parents and then uses the SNP to reconstruct the entire genome for every embryo. I don’t need to biopsy again, I already have the data needed to analyze this information. Yes, parental SES is the best predictor of life outcomes, but genes matter. There are already studies that have been conducted (and replicated) where researchers used genetic scores to predict social mobility and economic success among siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:40k is a lot for 2-3 points, which is basically noise.

I dunno, for the OP that's probably about a 5% increase, which is nothing to sneeze at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so normal PGS on a batch of embryos is $5-8,000.

1) you're talking about trusting a unknown startup with a critical medical test that you cannot do-over, at a cost 5-9 times what a regular PGS should be

2) if you're considering this on already extant embryos, you are likely going to kill the whole batch with the thaw/sample/freeze process. people only consider doing this when there is a deadly genetic issue that they are trying to avoid.

3) economic status is still the best predictor of success. invest the $40k now in a 529, provide love and support to whatever kids you get.

They are analyzing the SNP data from the lab where my clinic sent the biopsy samples. This company also collects DNA from both of the parents and then uses the SNP to reconstruct the entire genome for every embryo. I don’t need to biopsy again, I already have the data needed to analyze this information. Yes, parental SES is the best predictor of life outcomes, but genes matter. There are already studies that have been conducted (and replicated) where researchers used genetic scores to predict social mobility and economic success among siblings.

Yes, they do indeed. I'm not sure the tests on the embryos, which will have 50% of your genes, will provide happy news, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I paid about that to determine the sex of my embryos. Worked and worth it. Probably would’ve paid extra for a couple of extra IQ points but not $40k. They say IVF babies may be inferior since the sperm which created them never won the race to the egg.

I thought the child's intelligence was determined by the woman's genetics or is that another 'fake news'?

[Anonymous]

This is a huge scam. IQ is more than just DNA. There can be things that happen in the womb that affect it. Even if your child has a high IQ, it doesn’t mean guaranteed success. These pages are filled with stories of high IQ kids who struggle in a multitude of ways. Your child’s cognitive functioning could be affected by illness, disability, accident, etc. And it definitely will be affected by personality and temperament. For example, my sibling and I have almost identical IQ scores and she was in gifted classes, earned better grades, went to a much more elite college, etc. It drove my mom crazy that I wasn’t an academic kid.

And 2-3 points means absolutely nothing. If you tested a child 2 years apart, the score would likely fluctuate a few points. I doubt you could accurately guess who has an IQ of 138 vs 141 in a classroom or workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I paid about that to determine the sex of my embryos. Worked and worth it. Probably would’ve paid extra for a couple of extra IQ points but not $40k. They say IVF babies may be inferior since the sperm which created them never won the race to the egg.

I thought the child's intelligence was determined by the woman's genetics or is that another 'fake news'?

Not true, comes from both parents. There is slightly more variation among men because they only have one X chromosome. Technically, it is slightly more attributable to mom than dad, but the contribution is almost equal from both parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge scam. IQ is more than just DNA. There can be things that happen in the womb that affect it. Even if your child has a high IQ, it doesn’t mean guaranteed success. These pages are filled with stories of high IQ kids who struggle in a multitude of ways. Your child’s cognitive functioning could be affected by illness, disability, accident, etc. And it definitely will be affected by personality and temperament. For example, my sibling and I have almost identical IQ scores and she was in gifted classes, earned better grades, went to a much more elite college, etc. It drove my mom crazy that I wasn’t an academic kid.

And 2-3 points means absolutely nothing. If you tested a child 2 years apart, the score would likely fluctuate a few points. I doubt you could accurately guess who has an IQ of 138 vs 141 in a classroom or workplace.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/science/21cnd-sibling.html


The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.



Three points on an I.Q. test may not sound like much. But experts say it can be a tipping point for some people — the difference between a high B average and a low A, for instance. That, in turn, can have a cumulative effect that could mean the difference between admission to an elite private liberal-arts college and a less exclusive public one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge scam. IQ is more than just DNA. There can be things that happen in the womb that affect it. Even if your child has a high IQ, it doesn’t mean guaranteed success. These pages are filled with stories of high IQ kids who struggle in a multitude of ways. Your child’s cognitive functioning could be affected by illness, disability, accident, etc. And it definitely will be affected by personality and temperament. For example, my sibling and I have almost identical IQ scores and she was in gifted classes, earned better grades, went to a much more elite college, etc. It drove my mom crazy that I wasn’t an academic kid.

And 2-3 points means absolutely nothing. If you tested a child 2 years apart, the score would likely fluctuate a few points. I doubt you could accurately guess who has an IQ of 138 vs 141 in a classroom or workplace.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/science/21cnd-sibling.html


The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.



Three points on an I.Q. test may not sound like much. But experts say it can be a tipping point for some people — the difference between a high B average and a low A, for instance. That, in turn, can have a cumulative effect that could mean the difference between admission to an elite private liberal-arts college and a less exclusive public one.

This seems like a strong argument in favor of paying it to me.

[Anonymous]

That's not how this works. That's NOT how any of this works.

[Anonymous]

If you want 3 points higher IQ I'll have sex with you for $3,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a huge scam. IQ is more than just DNA. There can be things that happen in the womb that affect it. Even if your child has a high IQ, it doesn’t mean guaranteed success. These pages are filled with stories of high IQ kids who struggle in a multitude of ways. Your child’s cognitive functioning could be affected by illness, disability, accident, etc. And it definitely will be affected by personality and temperament. For example, my sibling and I have almost identical IQ scores and she was in gifted classes, earned better grades, went to a much more elite college, etc. It drove my mom crazy that I wasn’t an academic kid.

And 2-3 points means absolutely nothing. If you tested a child 2 years apart, the score would likely fluctuate a few points. I doubt you could accurately guess who has an IQ of 138 vs 141 in a classroom or workplace.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/science/21cnd-sibling.html


The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.



Three points on an I.Q. test may not sound like much. But experts say it can be a tipping point for some people — the difference between a high B average and a low A, for instance. That, in turn, can have a cumulative effect that could mean the difference between admission to an elite private liberal-arts college and a less exclusive public one.

"Experts" means the kind of people who comment on DCUM.
The wholecptemise is pseudoscientific nonsense. IQ is artificially scaled, so there's no way the effect is consistent at all IQ levels.
High and low IQs are inherently very noisy measurements, and at middle IQ a few points is a tiny difference in performance.

[Anonymous]

Try some GOOP vaginal eggs to promote intellectual development in the uterus.

[Anonymous]

is this for real? yikes

[Anonymous]

There are so many better and worthier uses for 40k. Somehow I am confident your child will be fine, even if they end up with 2-3 points lower IQ. There are people however for whom this kind of money would make a world of difference. IQ isn't just schooling and piano lessons, it is also empathy and being a decent human being.

To answer your question, yes, you're being scammed.