Genius Factory (2017) User Reviews (4)

Unintelligent project

[rylen · 5/10 · 30 December 2017]

A sperm bank of Nobel prize winners donors, problem #1 is, only one donor actually won a Nobel. So the name of the bank was a lie or at least a falsum. The bank was run by amateurs and the underlying philosophy and goal was to better the human race, but the lack of focus and control, made the project a huge fiasco.

The focus on IQ (though the IQ of the donors wasn't confirmed) actually was a huge problem. Social intelligence was downplayed by the founder, and thereby giving some the children a really bad start in life.

The story in the documentary is somewhat interesting, though nothing surprising, when the ingredients is an rich old man, Americans and lack of the bigger picture.

Craftsmanship of the documentary is okay, though filled with stock photos, which gives it a cheap look. The part where Ed Chen tells about his article from the 80's and the narrator tells the same story in the same wordings is very 2010'ish documentary style and very annoying.

So to sum up, time not wasted, but not moved, inspired, intrigued or shocked at all.

Small sample size didn't give a real picture

[mikesfakeaccount · 4/10 · 14 June 2021]

Covering only a few of the 218 children born from the project didn't give an accurate picture of its success or failure.

There were also unsubstantiated claims of racism based on the donors being white. Were non white Nobel winners or mensa members declined? What about the races of the mothers? There were children born in Egypt and Lebanon so I doubt it was limited to whites only as the filmmakers would have you believe.

Crazy!

[jonnysuspiria · 10/10 · 4 April 2018]

Great documentary about a total nut! I've seen a few news stories about Robert Graham and his crazy sperm bank but this doc went much deeper than anything else out there. It even gives some additional shocks compared to the book. Recommended for any fans of bizzare science!

Smart Documentary

[ihadarocketship · 10/10 · 10 April 2018]

This is a truly thought-provoking documentary. This guy is a really talented film director (saw a documentary short of his as well). Genius Factory is a biography about the life of a billionaire, Robert Graham, who starts a 19 year long, racist eugenics experiment. It also covers the history of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank and checks in with the super kids as adults, to find out if the experiment worked. The music is dark and really well done, and the documentary has a crazy cast of characters in it. I'm a big Michael Shermer fan, so it was cool to see him interviewed in this too.