Right now, one problem with eugenics is that, well, we don’t understand genetics very well; messing around with the human gene pool in ways that we haven’t done in the past could have Unintended Consequences.
Our current policies already mess with the human gene pool. A strong case has been made by some experts that humans have been self-domesticating for the better part of the last 10 000 years. You would actually need better knowledge of genetics to craft policies that don’t mess with the gene pool than to craft policies that mess with it in likely desirable ways.
You don’t really need to understand genetics very well to do eugenics see animal husbandry, the unintended consequences of it have proven to pretty manageable in animals (except in some breeds where targeting a certain appearance rather than temperament, physical ability or intelligence is the primary goal).
You don’t really need to understand genetics very well to do eugenics see animal husbandry and except for certain dog breeds the unintended consequences of have proven to pretty manageable in animals (except in some breeds where targeting a certain appearance rather than temperament, physical ability or intelligence is the primary goal).
The difference is that with animal breeding you have a clear distinction between the people doing the breeding and the animals being bred. Humans breeding humans any attempt at being “scientific” is likely to collapse in the face of the resulting signaling games.
I mean look at the current state of social science, do you think it would somehow magically improve if eugenics were to be embraced? In fact, it’s likely to get worse since the results of social science would then have even more significance.
A strong case has been made by some experts that humans have been self-domesticating for the better part of the last 10 000 years. You would actually need better knowledge of genetics to craft policies that don’t mess with the gene pool than to craft policies that mess with it in likely desirable ways.
The argument that human personality traits have been adapted to local conditions by evolution runs into the difficulty that local conditions don’t tend to stay the same for very long. I’m aware of the Ashkenazi intelligence hypothesis but I suspect the results are a combination of random noise and our difficulty in figuring out and testing for the difference between intelligence and competence-in-a-particular-society.
Your point about animal husbandry is well taken. But how long did fixation of those traits take? Other than sheep dogs (and some types of horses?), were behavior traits or physical traits what breeders selected for? There are lots of examples of animal husbandry selecting for some other physical characteristic (e.g. larger chicken breasts).
Understanding genetics is not required to recommend that e.g. poor people breed less, because poor people’s children are more likely to also be poor (and poorly educated, etc.) for reasons that don’t have much to do with genetics. Genetics is a factor, but not a dominant one.
Right now, one problem with eugenics is that, well, we don’t understand genetics very well; messing around with the human gene pool in ways that we haven’t done in the past could have Unintended Consequences.
Our current policies already mess with the human gene pool. A strong case has been made by some experts that humans have been self-domesticating for the better part of the last 10 000 years. You would actually need better knowledge of genetics to craft policies that don’t mess with the gene pool than to craft policies that mess with it in likely desirable ways.
You don’t really need to understand genetics very well to do eugenics see animal husbandry, the unintended consequences of it have proven to pretty manageable in animals (except in some breeds where targeting a certain appearance rather than temperament, physical ability or intelligence is the primary goal).
The difference is that with animal breeding you have a clear distinction between the people doing the breeding and the animals being bred. Humans breeding humans any attempt at being “scientific” is likely to collapse in the face of the resulting signaling games.
I mean look at the current state of social science, do you think it would somehow magically improve if eugenics were to be embraced? In fact, it’s likely to get worse since the results of social science would then have even more significance.
The argument that human personality traits have been adapted to local conditions by evolution runs into the difficulty that local conditions don’t tend to stay the same for very long. I’m aware of the Ashkenazi intelligence hypothesis but I suspect the results are a combination of random noise and our difficulty in figuring out and testing for the difference between intelligence and competence-in-a-particular-society.
Your point about animal husbandry is well taken. But how long did fixation of those traits take? Other than sheep dogs (and some types of horses?), were behavior traits or physical traits what breeders selected for? There are lots of examples of animal husbandry selecting for some other physical characteristic (e.g. larger chicken breasts).
Understanding genetics is not required to recommend that e.g. poor people breed less, because poor people’s children are more likely to also be poor (and poorly educated, etc.) for reasons that don’t have much to do with genetics. Genetics is a factor, but not a dominant one.