Sunday, January 24, 2010
Eugenics
Eugenics is the practice of selective breeding towards humans. It has a lot to do with the theory of natural selection. Society aims to protect the weak and underprivileged, and help keep them alive. Natural selection says that only the strongest and best survive, so by protecting the week, society is essentially going against the natural process, and keeping mankind from becoming stronger. Eugenics does the opposite, it aims to improve the gene pool by any means necessary. One example of eugenics in the 1900s was the holocaust. The Nazi felt that mankind must continue moving forward. The Nazi Germans wanted to be the strongest of the human race, and they wanted to rid the human race of any weakness. They began to identify any races that they felt were inferior, and exterminate them. They decided that the Jewish must be eliminated, so they began mercilessly murdering Jewish people. it was a ruthless genocide. They also began trying to breed perfect humans to enroll in their army. Strong healthy males would breed with strong healthy females in am attempt to create the ideal human being.
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Nowadays, there is a lot of controversy about eugenics. People have speculated about the 'designer baby', in which parents, the government, or some other authoritative entity could predetermine what genetic characteristics a baby would have before it was born. This process would involve genetic engineering and in vitro fertilisation. Bioethicists have argued that this kind of technology could be used ethically and responsibly in order to give children the healthiest and happiest lives possible. Some have even argued that this kind of genetic mutation should be mandatory. Others believe that Eugenics should not be permitted under any circumstances. They often point to examples such as the Holocaust, in which genetic engineering would be used to selectively breed a specific type of human being and labeling them superior, while casting out others (like the Jews) as lesser beings. Also, some people believe that genetic engineering is unethical on religious grounds. So where do you stand on this issue?
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm seeing this wrong, but wouldn't making a pre-determined parenthood create a not as happy family, because the parents were forced to marry, instead of them falling in love. Maybe I'm missing the point, but it seems like this doesn't create a big happy family.
ReplyDeleteMark, it could potentially create an unhappy family if men and women were just paired together without ever meeting each other or if they were advertised in the newspaper to get married or something, but that method is highly unlikely. It is still possible to have two very strong humans beings that find each other and want to get married. One example of this is that there are many pro athletes that marry other pro athletes. They do this because they meet each other person through sports and just happen want to be with each other for the rest of their lives. There isn't anyone going around pairing up all of the superhumans.
ReplyDeleteAlso, although i'm not a doctor or scientist of any kind, i'm sure its possible to have some very strong children come from parents that weren't necesarily special. Another thing is that not everyone in the world thinks that they are on the earth simply to pass on their genes so they might not care as much if their children don't grow up to be michael phelps or lebron james.