Well, actually just a thought but if Barrett's genes are perfect and exempt of any kind of harmful mutations, then, even with inbreeding, it wouldn't change too much.
Let me explain: We are all, and I mean all, healthy carriers of at least one genetical disease: And that's why inbreeding sucks: If a healthy carrier of a certain type of a genetical disease reproduce with another healthy carrier of the same disease, it would resolve on 50% of chances to have a kid actually suffering from the disease. And as genetical diseases appear and disappear from the genome by mutations, I can tell ya that we are all healthy carriers of numerous possible genetical diseases.
If Barrett's genetics are perfect, it means that he doesn't have any kind of harmful mutations and isn't the healthy carrier of any kind of diseases: In this situation, even if two of his kids decided to have kids between them (granted that they don't have the same mother and didn't inherit the same mutations from their mothers), then it would be actually less likely to have a child with any kind of genetical disease. In this case, inbreeding doesn't matter much. Eh, Barrett could reproduce once again with one of his daughters without having to fret about the result: If his genetics are really perfect, then, no matter what, the new born will be completely healthy, genetically speaking.
On the same track of thoughts, I read once about a breeder doing the same kind of experiments with their German shepherds. Her and her family before her actually worked really hard on the same bloodline for generations and generations and at the end of it, she was so sure about the genetics of that precise bloodline that she didn't hesitate to let one of her latest result be mounted by her father. The results are that the puppies had the highest percentage of inbreeding I ever saw in dog breeding but were completely healthy. They are at least 8 years old now and, as that litter is still strictly monitored, none of them never developed any kind of genetical diseases or any kind of the commun diseases for that particular dog breed.
All that to say: inbreeding doesn't mean genetical diseases, it means higher percentage of chances to develop them. If one's genetics are perfect, then one could sleep with his mother, daughter, granddaughter, great granddaughter without much concern, as they aren't a healthy carrier of any kind of harmful mutations.
Oh and to finish if off: mutations still happens and even if in a family the patriarch and the matriarch are genetically perfects, it doesn't mean that their great grandchildren will not be healthy carriers of any kind of harmful mutations. I wouldn't recommend to keep it in the family.
Funny fact: as humans we are all a little bit inbred, as our genetic material is far less diversified than any other kind of great apes (and we don't even know why).
That’s an interesting insight, thank you! If this program encouraged Barrett fathering multiple generations (reproduce with his children, grandchildren, etc.) then establishing a founder’s effect with the “perfect genes” could indeed save mankind, as the advertisement claimed. I wrote the original comment with the assumption that Barrett’s genes weren’t as perfect as they seemed to be; aside from human error, the environment is constantly changing and there’s no telling how the “perfect genes” of one era could interact with the world hundreds of years down the line. If these genes backfire, say, 1000 years in the future, then populations composed entirely of these genes could perish, and the reduced genetic diversity would become a handicap...was at least my thought process, haha.
That study you mentioned sounds interesting! Do you remember the title? I’d like to take a look, if possible :D Otherwise I’ll just sift through google scholar lol
Well, I think that a founder generation with Barrett's genes would be a complete stupidity, as genetic variation is one of the most important things if we're talking about adaptation. Say, if we had a founder generation right now, with the corona virus and then, guessing that this founder generation weren't in any kind resistant to corona virus... Well, it would be a massacre. A complete change of environment can be acceptable for a specie because of genetic diversity. Fun fact: Bacteries and virus clone themselves as a reproductive system. But let us imagine a little bit... If the bacterias for the Black Plague (I think, that's the name in English? Or dark plague, maybe) or the corona virus were all the same, genetically speaking, they would all die if the environment changes brutally (we're talking about months, uh. Not years. And not a lot too, just if the temp dropped by 15 degrees in 2 months, for example.). Virus and bacterias need genetic diversity to survive, exactly like us. But they reproduce by making perfect copies or themselves. So. How do they survive? Well... They steal genetic material from the dead bacterias on the floor. Not even joking. They go, find a dead virus or bacteria and have sex (as in sharing genetic information) with it: they take genetic material from the corpses. Lovely. Well, that's the reason we have flu every year and that's why corona virus is so much of a hassle 1 year later.
Oh dear, no, I don't remember. I skimmed through it when I was reading thesis breeders made about genetics, diseases and fur colour. It was years ago. I can't even remember the name of the breeder who did that. But I can still glimpse at a cat fur and guess its genetics, the colour of its parents and the length of their fur. Nothing really useful but it's cool.
Oh, and another fun fact: Every white tiger in this world is actually a descendant of the same tiger named Mohan. He was white and was coupled with one of his daughter (normal tiger) to make descendants cause the white colour was actually a recessive gene and to have that mutation, the only way was inbreeding. All of the white tigers in captivity are related to Mohan.
Ah I thought you were inferring that Barrett causing the founder’s effect would be beneficial since you were talking about good genes being passed onto multiple generations. My bad, I just realized you were correcting a portion of my statement and not speaking about the species’ survival as a whole (I’ll retract the “inbreeding = higher chances of genetic defects” statement since you made a good point)
And i agree, genetic diversity is essential for a species’ survival. That’s exactly what I was getting at in my reply, which is why I thought the program’s “saving mankind” motto was complete bs. Barrett reproducing with every female out there is gonna lead to a loss of genetic diversity and making populations more susceptible to complete genocide
Is my site tripping or did all the replies get deleted after I edited my comment? (⊙…⊙ ) Pity, there was a nice discussion going on, I hope it’s just a temporary glitch
P.S: just to add: In 1000 years, those genes would have mutated too, in some ways too. In fact inbreeding can have two distinct effects: inbreeding depression, which is what we were talking before: Lack of diversity, boom, population bottleneck (sharp reduce in population). Or it can also give one population a purge effect by showing off the sleeping mutations and making the rest of the pop avoiding them. But oh well, Barrett is named Barrett and not Adam: One thing or another, he's just gonna be a high-class prostitute for one hundred or two of filthy rich omegas and isn't a threat for the genetic pool of human kind.
Thanks for the discussion tho, I appreciated it!
It's cause you edited! But it's back on when we commented.
Oh and if we need to talk about the ethics of this kind of program... Don't even let me start. Poor Barrett.
Ah I see, I definitely need to brush up on my theories again xD And you’re right, realistically the program wouldn’t have much effect on the species cuz it’s not an international project or anything. I suppose I was just mad that everyone in the webtoon revered the program like it was some kinda godsent salvation and that no one was questioning its potential consequences haha. Thank you as well for the discussion!
Poor Barrett indeed, hopefully he’ll be freed from this real soon
I hope this program isn’t government-funded, cuz if it is, then their entire public health department needs to crash and burn LOL. On the contrary, they should be aiming to shut it down cuz I’m pretty sure it puts populations at risk
To explain: the program advertises “saving mankind” by passing on ONE person’s godly genes and attract as many women to participate (for maximum company $$$.) But no matter how godly the genes are, if everyone participates then it’ll just lead to inbreeding; Barrett’s gonna be the bio father for a huge chunk of the next generation’s children, if not all of them. Inbreeding = higher chances of genetic defects = likely extinction (if nothing’s done to fix the issue.)
I mean, human extinction is an extreme case and the most that’ll happen is probably Barrett’s ancestry going extinct real quick (cuz all the half-siblings are gonna inbreed and cause more problems for their future generations.) Those ladies aren’t gonna see their genes passed on for long
Tl;dr: This program sucks major ass
Edit: Thanks to the reply below for a great insight and POV :D Inbreeding doesn’t always = higher chances of genetic defects, especially in Barrett’s case
Editing in some thoughts I should’ve added beforehand:
Even the “perfect genes” could become detrimental in a changing environment, because there’s no telling what earth will look like several years in the future. Even if the genes are perfect for the current generation, they could negatively interact with the environment in the future (become susceptible to a new strain of viruses, inability to adapt to climate change, etc.) and fk over everyone carrying these genes. The reduction of genetic diversity doesn’t have healthy prospects for mankind’s survival in general
And that’s assuming that these genes were truly manufactured to be “perfect” in the first place. Who’s to say there was no human error that overlooked inactive detrimental genes?