[extropy-chat] Eumemics now eugenics

[MB]

I've often thought that animal breeders are practicing eugenics. So
are plant breeders. And we do ourselves, when we try to select proper
mates. (I don't know about you, but there were people I dated in
school who I did NOT ever consider for marriage, and having
kids is part of that picture.)

It's government involvement that disturbs me most.

IIUC there are a number of people who refrain from breeding because
they carry inheritable genetic problems. Although I don't know any of
these folk myself, it's not a conversation you might have with just
anyone either, so perhaps I *do* know folks like that but am unaware
of it?

I know I've had the discussion with friends that if I had a severely
retarded/damaged child I'd perhaps want the child sterilized because
1)  parenthood would be just too much for the child to cope with, and
2)  if it was an inheritable problem.  I've not had much disagreement
there, either.

Since I've not been faced with that situation, I do not *know* what I
would do... but we did limit ourselves to two children as we did not
have the resources (there are many kinds necessary)  to care properly
for more.

Regards,
MB

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, rick wrote:

> Where did so may of you get the idea that eugenics was anything other
> than the careful attention to biological parentage? Eugenics is
> selective breeding: dog breeders would be dog eugenicists if they were
> only concerned with selecting for objectively progressive (super-dog)
> traits. For us, this would mean objectively deciding* if our own mix of
> inheritable traits are among the very best available and, if not,
> getting ourselves "fixed." If we are deemed (by us, or by ones we trust)
> to be prime breeding stock our only eugenic task is to arrange to
> combine our gametes with other high grade gametes. There may be many
> reasons that any government would tend to f__k this up, but today we
> just need one very good one: the current mental qualities of current
> governmental leaders fits that bill nicely. So, apart from the most
> private of actions, practicing eugenicists of our day have virtually no
> opportunities to act in support of what we reason is a good thing.