Tsvi Benson-Tilsen, a mathematician, spent seven years researching how to keep an advanced form of artificial intelligence from destroying humanity before he concluded that stopping it wasn’t possible—at least anytime soon. Now, he’s turned his considerable brainpower to promoting cutting-edge technology to create smarter humans who will be up to the task of saving us all. “My intuition is it’s one of our best hopes," said Benson-Tilsen, co-founder of the Berkeley Genomics Project, a nonprofit supporting the new field. This isn’t science fiction. It is Silicon Valley, where interest in breeding smarter babies is peaking. Parents here are paying up...