meritocrat

When people (in contemporary times) speak of eugenics they always are labelled as 'Nazis'. But is it really so reprehensible?

If we could rid humanity of certain diseases, how can that be classified as 'unethical' or 'wrong'?

Jat

It is not the concept of eugenics itself which is wrong, but how it is usually put into practice. The best way would be before birth through genetic engineering.

Syphor

The genetic diseases which plague us now will begin to become non-existent in 50 years, instead they will be eliminated through some sort of genetic screening process prior to birth. People today also attack the idea of 'designer babies' as unethical and morally wrong, yet how could genetically engineering a child with physical and mental traits which would be to be of great social benefit to that child during their life be possibly considered wrong? Then again we may face a situation such as in the movie Gattaca where there are two main social classes, those with genetic enhancements and those without. Either way, the string of defeats for religion and pain-in-the-arse ethicists will continue and genetically designing children will become a reality.

With eugenics however you may be referring to selective breeding of the human race, where those with genetic diseases are killed off and those without are breed. Doesn't sound the best but we don't have a problem doing it with dogs so why are we any different? Smarter perhaps, I guess this is enough for most people but think of the benefits, elimination of genetic disease. As previously mentioned though, genetic engineering will allow us to do this in the near future making selective human breeding an unnecessary option.

slept2long

Reprehinsible? YES. Riding humanity of diseases is a great goal. I don't think it's posible though unless you re-engineer viruses and whatnot. They mutate but then again you probably already knew that.

As for the whole idea of designer children I would be interested to know how far off the technology necessary for this is. Anyone know? I would think for it to take hold it needs to be cheap enough to market. And it probably IMO be an offshoot of designer "other things" as well. The first designer creatures would be simple IMO. I could support the idea of designer pets but designer children I couldn't stomach. That is unless the world becomes so toxic designer humans are necessary.

Edited to add: Didn't the US implement then disband it's eugenics program way before Adolf and company?

Jat

Yes, but all they did was sterilize the mentality ill and retarded, and sometimes children who were a "problem" as well.

Ovazor

You lack a category: pseudoscientific waste of medical resources. While some diseases might conceivably be elmiminated by selectively aborting fetusses having the wrong gene combination, it wouldn't be as easy or quick as most eugenic ethuastics think. The medical resources needed to establish an effective eugenics program would achive more if used otherwise.

Also, to be able to eliminate any genetic diseases, both genetic screening and the possible abortion would have to be mandatory or at least have strong incentives to back it. Forcing or coercing people to do abortions does have serious moral issues, and can very obviously be unethical or wrong. Ends do not justify means. Yet if only part of the population was subjected to the eugenic program, the program would not be able to eliminate anything.

TealVeal

Don't forget genetic diseases sometimes provide a benefit. If you have one of the genes for Sickle Cell you are resistent to malaria.

bleubird

Prescott Bush,Charles Lindburg?

the_seeker

Ha ha ha! How often do I hear the terrible term "pseudo-science!" And, pray tell, what does eugenics have to do with medicine?

Here are some Internet links, for those interested. The first two are especially good, and relatively short and simple. Please check them out.

http://www.geocities.com/nachtwolf4321/Eugenix.html

http://www.geocities.com/nachtwolf43...lyeugenix.html

http://www.euvolution.com/articles.htm

The last site is a list of, and links to, good articles.

By the way, eugenics has absolutely nothing to do with Hitler or the Third Reich, so I don't know why that's in your poll.

There is also another important distinction to make: there is "positive" and "negative" eugenics - selecting for positive traits, or selecting against negative ones. Eugenics need not be the great evil the media makes it out to be.

Under the "Nation" part of this website, there is also a good eugenics section:

http://www.childrenofmillennium.org/

Thalia

Yes, it is estimated that about 60,000 people were forcibly sterilized.

There are many questions that eugenics raises in my mind:

What of accidentally weeding out good traits that are linked with bad traits?

Where do we draw the line about what traits we weed out? Only purely deadly diseases like Tay Sachs? Or what about homosexuality? mild retardation? certain facial features? What message does this send to people with these traits, or "diseases"?

Should we be limiting genetic diversity? Could this weaken us in the face of some biological outbreak or other environmental pressure? (the malaria, sickle cell example above is sort of an example of this)

Who will have the benefit of genetically designing their children? Parts of society that already may have many advantages to give to their children?

If we do start moving towards not just elimination of awful diseases like Tay Sachs (which gives your child a painful, short life of about 3 years), but also "designer" traits (eliminating the stupid gene, the lazy gene, etc.) are we putting too much emphasis on a persons genetics, perhaps placing false expectations our our children and each other?

If we are one day able to eliminate or promote genes for certain traits, who will push certain traits, possibly engineering society? Will the government or religion promote the "docile, unquestioning gene" by telling parents their children will be better behaved?

I don't think it is evil in and of itself, but I think we need to be very cautious.

I post so many point bc I study bioethics and had to write a paper on this!