- 15 Mar 2011 15:48
#13655373
Is eugenics good or bad? Is it (can it be) ethical and moral? Eugenics has a very bad name because it has been used by Nazis as an excuse for their horrific crimes against humanity. But eugenics appears to be a valid scientific area which is, perhaps, wrongly seen as having any connection with Nazism.
Should we try to slowly (over generations) and voluntarily improve the global population by applying eugenics programs? For example, if we find a certain gene which makes people smarter, stronger or better in any other objective way, should we try to propagate this gene further into global population to improve everyone's qualities? An obvious way of propagating such gene would probably consist of social advantages for those possessing the gene - but only in the specified area, i.e. people with "scientific gene" would be preferred to take scientific jobs and so on. Would that be morally and ethically justifiable?
Eugenics is a common theme in many sci-fi novels where civilizations use eugenics programs to create castes of people who are better at certain tasks which leads to creation of genetically different elites. For instance, we could use eugenics to create elite groups of people such as soldier elites, engineer/scientist elites, doctor elites, teacher elites and so on, dramatically improving the objective quality of population. The different castes of elites would not be allowed to interbreed in order not to dilute their unique DNA.
Once again I would like to underline, that participation in such eugenics program would be voluntary, nobody could be forced to be part of it.
What are your thoughts?
Please keep this discussion civil and don't troll with useless replies such as "OMG, Hitler!!!".
Should we try to slowly (over generations) and voluntarily improve the global population by applying eugenics programs? For example, if we find a certain gene which makes people smarter, stronger or better in any other objective way, should we try to propagate this gene further into global population to improve everyone's qualities? An obvious way of propagating such gene would probably consist of social advantages for those possessing the gene - but only in the specified area, i.e. people with "scientific gene" would be preferred to take scientific jobs and so on. Would that be morally and ethically justifiable?
Eugenics is a common theme in many sci-fi novels where civilizations use eugenics programs to create castes of people who are better at certain tasks which leads to creation of genetically different elites. For instance, we could use eugenics to create elite groups of people such as soldier elites, engineer/scientist elites, doctor elites, teacher elites and so on, dramatically improving the objective quality of population. The different castes of elites would not be allowed to interbreed in order not to dilute their unique DNA.
Once again I would like to underline, that participation in such eugenics program would be voluntary, nobody could be forced to be part of it.
What are your thoughts?
Please keep this discussion civil and don't troll with useless replies such as "OMG, Hitler!!!".
Cato the Elder wrote:Furthermore I think Carthage must be destroyed.