Eugenics... not such a bad thing?

January 29, 2008 4:58pm CST
When most people think of eugenics they imagine Nazi's attempting to wipe out entire races. But is this what eugenics is about? I say, no. Eugenics is (or at least is supposed to be) about bettering the human race in the long run. It's about choosing genetic characteristics that will benefit humanity. Intelligence, for example, can be shown to be inherited. A high metabolism and desire for less food can be shown to be genetic (less chance of becoming obese). Aiming to promote these genetic characteristics does not mean we have to prevent those without them from breeding. We could simply not allow them to donate sperm/eggs. Even the fact that some people simply cannot reproduce naturally (and have to rely on IVF) could be seen as something to remove via eugenics; people who cannot breed should not be allowed to pass on their flaud genetics through IVF. What do you think? If eugenics was taken as a way of ensuring 'good' (debate about what is 'good')characteristics were passed on instead of 'bad' (the very essence of evolutionary theory) and not slaughtering mass swathes of the human race, would it be acceptable? This is a massive, fascinating debate and I have barely touched on the various topics within it. I hope to get more into it as people start responding. This should be interesing :)
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