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What are your thoughts on *voluntary* eugenics? I mean things such as selecting sperm/egg donors based on desirable traits of theirs, aborting Down's syndrome fetuses because they have Down's syndrome, encouraging ASTRONOMICALLY more people to reproduce with the help of sperm/egg donors (while also STRONGLY opposing hunting down these donors for ANY child support REGARDLESS of just how they donate their sperm/eggs), and encouraging reproduction through IVF and also doing embryo selection for desirable traits/genes (such as intelligence) as opposed to reproducing the natural, traditional way.
The old eugenics was evil because it was done forcibly and involuntarily, but I don't see any problem with voluntary efforts to improve the human gene pool that don't actually harm anyone else. Do you?
People have been purposely selecting their partners based on things like height, strength, intelligence, health, etc in the hopes that those traits will be passed on to their children for eons. It's nothing at all new, and as long as it's done voluntarily, I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
For sperm/egg donation situations, it makes sense they would screen the donors for their health history, etc; what if they knowingly accept someone who's got a family history of cancer and survived it themselves, and as a result, the child conceived via IVF dies from cancer as a child? Anyone would want to avoid that if possible.
The main concern is that it's voluntary. Nazi eugenics that hinged on exterminating those deemed "undesirable" and also dictating pairings based on genetic purity was insane and evil; saying "I hope that if I have kids with this guy, they'll be tall" or "I'd worry about having kids with her because she has a family history of mental illness" is not
People have been purposely selecting their partners based on things like height, strength, intelligence, health, etc in the hopes that those traits will be passed on to their children for eons. It's nothing at all new, and as long as it's done voluntarily, I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
For sperm/egg donation situations, it makes sense they would screen the donors for their health history, etc; what if they knowingly accept someone who's got a family history of cancer and survived it themselves, and as a result, the child conceived via IVF dies from cancer as a child? Anyone would want to avoid that if possible.
The main concern is that it's voluntary. Nazi eugenics that hinged on exterminating those deemed "undesirable" and also dictating pairings based on genetic purity was insane and evil; saying "I hope that if I have kids with this guy, they'll be tall" or "I'd worry about having kids with her because she has a family history of mental illness" is not
Excellent post! I also think that blank slatist conservatives have been total morons in having an absolute anti-welfare and anti-social safety net stance whereas the more prudent and humane position for them to have taken might have been to encourage single mothers to have kids with genius fathers. After all, single motherhood in itself probably isn't too harmful to children (short of truly exceptional cases); rather, the reason that kids of single mothers perform worse on average is likely due to these kids inheriting worse genes from their parents in the first place. But if one of their parents will be a genius, then this will be less of an issue!
Eugenics that is destructive at later stages of development is also icky.
Although I am personally pro-choice I oppose abortion in the third trimester. Genetic screening can be done early enough whether in vitro or in vivo to avoid these situations, so I don't see a need for later stage abortions unless a life-threatening condition develops for the mother.
If you want get really out there, try thinking about ectogenesis (artificial uterus). Our species could become more intelligent when our newborn head sizes are no longer restricted by the width of the birth canal.
Excellent post! I also think that blank slatist conservatives have been total morons in having an absolute anti-welfare and anti-social safety net stance whereas the more prudent and humane position for them to have taken might have been to encourage single mothers to have kids with genius fathers. After all, single motherhood in itself probably isn't too harmful to children (short of truly exceptional cases); rather, the reason that kids of single mothers perform worse on average is likely due to these kids inheriting worse genes from their parents in the first place. But if one of their parents will be a genius, then this will be less of an issue!
I grew up in poor areas and there were plenty of very intelligent kids with intelligent parents whose main issue was simply lack of available resources for them to achieve their full potential. A friend of mine in elementary and middle school was desgining airplanes on his own and self-teaching himself the physics, figuring out wing surface areas and things like that... He took auto shop and was able to rebuild modern engines before high school was done... And... That was it. He became a mechanic by trade and makes a stable living but his routine is basically work on cars, come home, drink beer, watch TV. Any spark for doing something new and interesting is long gone. Like with me, no one ever really explained the steps he would have to take to get into university, the programs available for him as a low-income kid in a single-parent home, etc. If more resources had been available at the time and our school system was set up to identify and foster children with exceptional abilities, then maybe he'd be working for an aerospace company right now, for the general betterment of our country.
I'm a libertarian: their choice! If the government wants to pay smart people to have kids or donate their sperm, be my guest. If a rich couple wants to pay big bucks a smart college woman to adopt her accidental pregnancy rather than her to get an abortion, the government shouldn't interfere. People should have as much freedom and liberty to live their lives as they see fit as long as it doesn't harm other people or property.
I grew up in poor areas and there were plenty of very intelligent kids with intelligent parents whose main issue was simply lack of available resources for them to achieve their full potential. A friend of mine in elementary and middle school was desgining airplanes on his own and self-teaching himself the physics, figuring out wing surface areas and things like that... He took auto shop and was able to rebuild modern engines before high school was done... And... That was it. He became a mechanic by trade and makes a stable living but his routine is basically work on cars, come home, drink beer, watch TV. Any spark for doing something new and interesting is long gone. Like with me, no one ever really explained the steps he would have to take to get into university, the programs available for him as a low-income kid in a single-parent home, etc. If more resources had been available at the time and our school system was set up to identify and foster children with exceptional abilities, then maybe he'd be working for an aerospace company right now, for the general betterment of our country.
That's a good example but it seems like his issues were primarily living in a poor area as opposed to being raised by a single parent.
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