The most common anti-eugenics stance I encounter is also opposed to epilogenics. From this point of view, parents choosing to select for desirable traits in their offspring using advanced medical technology is wasteful, immoral and gross. They have roughly the same feelings about epilogenics (including for intelligence) as they have about cosmetic plastic surgery. To them, a natural and traditional trajectory of healthy human lifespan is ideal—we should maintain our health via diet and exercise, try not to care too much about superficial traits like appearance or intelligence, then die in our 80s or so.
I think that convincing doctors and patients that it’s good to take fuller control of one’s own body (and to influence their children’s bodies) via advanced med tech is the main hurdle to promoting an acceptance of epilogenics.
The most common anti-eugenics stance I encounter is also opposed to epilogenics. From this point of view, parents choosing to select for desirable traits in their offspring using advanced medical technology is wasteful, immoral and gross. They have roughly the same feelings about epilogenics (including for intelligence) as they have about cosmetic plastic surgery. To them, a natural and traditional trajectory of healthy human lifespan is ideal—we should maintain our health via diet and exercise, try not to care too much about superficial traits like appearance or intelligence, then die in our 80s or so.
I think that convincing doctors and patients that it’s good to take fuller control of one’s own body (and to influence their children’s bodies) via advanced med tech is the main hurdle to promoting an acceptance of epilogenics.