Evolution and Eugenics

It was interesting to hear that eugenics was brought up in class this week.  You almost never hear about eugenics and the eugenics movement of the 20th century brought up in a science class, much less at Abilene Christian University.  I’m not sure how many people are even aware that the eugenics movement existed, or that it still exists today.

I think that it would be important for us to start bringing eugenics into modern day discussions of science, we are fast approaching a day where we may be able to manipulate human DNA and craft “perfect” humans.  The whole eugenics movement was all about removing trash and faulty genetic material from the human race so that it would no longer plague human society.  It led to the casting out of and sterilization of many people considered mentally unfit or genetically unsuitable to reproduce.

Not to mention eugenics inspired the practices of Nazi Germany and its racial genocide against European Jewish people.  A lesser know fact is that eugenics inspired Margaret Sanger, the founder of Family Planning Clinics in the United States, there is still an undertone of eugenics there even today.

I think that eugenics is an important topic to discuss in modern science.  We currently do not possess the ability to manipulate DNA on a scale to allow genetic screening, and we may never reach that level, but the possibility exists.  Movies like Gattica are a good reminder of this possibility and raise the question about who will be the one to decide what passes and normal/desired genetic traits and which will not.  Perhaps we will never reach the level that eugenics did in the 20th century, but some how negative social trends always find a way to creep back into the social conscious.