A cost-benefit analysis of the marginal cost of IVF-based embryo selection for intelligence and other traits with 2016–2017 state-of-the-art
A possible adjunct to embryo selection is sperm selection. Non-destructive sequencing is not yet possible, but measuring phenotypic correlates of genetic quality (such as sperm speed/motility) is. These may be correlated with genetics for adult traits, and one can select from billions of sperm. These correlations of sperm quality/genetic quality are, however, small and confounded in current studies by between-individual variation. Optimistically, the gain from such sperm selection is probably small, <0.1SD, and there do not appear to be any easy ways to boost this effect. Sperm selection is probably cost-effective and a good enhancement of existing IVF practices, but not particularly notable.