Human
Genetic Improvement
Quotes
from leading thinkers:
Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and
dogs than of their children.
William Penn. Some fruits of solitude, in reflections and maxims
relating to the conduct of human life. 1693
It does not, however, seem impossible that by an attention to
breed, a certain degree of improvement, similar to that among animals, might
take place among men. Whether intellect could be communicated may be a matter
of doubt: but size, strength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps even longevity
are in a degree transmissible... As the human race could not be improved in
this way, without condemning all the bad specimens to celibacy, it is not
probable, that an attention to breed should ever become general.
Thomas Robert Malthus. An Essay on Population. 1798
Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his
horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own
marriage he rarely, or never, takes such care. ... Yet he might by
selection do something not only for the bodily constitution and frame of his
offspring, but for their intellectual and moral qualities.
Charles Darwin. The Descent of Man. 1871
A majority of the community would probably also admit today that
the physical characters of man are inherited with practically the same
intensity as the like characters in cattle and horses. But few, however ...,
apply the results which flow from such acceptance to their own conduct in life.
Karl Pearson. On the Laws of Inheritance in Man (Biometrika 3:131) 1904
We can set no limit to human potentialities; all that is best in
man can be bettered... The ordinary social reformer sets out with a belief that
no environment can be too good for humanity; it is without contradicting this,
that the eugenist may add that man can never
be too good for his environment.
Ronald A. Fisher. Some Hopes of a Eugenist
(Eugenics Review 5:309) 1914
The eugenic conscience is in need of development, and it is only
when it becomes thoroughly aroused in the rank and file of society as well as
among the leaders, that a permanent and increasing betterment of mankind can be
expected.
Herbert Eugene Walter. Genetics. 1924
Galton’s eccentric, sceptical,
observing, flashing, cavalry-leader type of mind led him eventually to become
the founder of the most important, significant and, I would add, genuine branch
of sociology which exists, namely eugenics.
John Maynard Keynes. Eugenics Review. 1946
Theoretically it would be one of the greatest triumphs of mankind,
one of the most compassionate liberations from natural bondage to which we are
subject, were it possible to raise the responsible act of procreation to a
level of voluntary and intentional behavior, and to free this act from its
entanglement with our indispensable satisfaction of a natural desire.
Sigmund Freud. Collected Works. 1948
When one considers how much the world owes to single individuals
of the order of capability of an Einstein, Pasteur, Descartes, Leonardo, or
Lincoln, it becomes evident how vastly society would be enriched if they were
to be manifolded... Later generations will look with amazement at the
pitifully small amount of research now being carried on to open up such
possibilities, even though for years specialists have realized that they lie
just around the corner... It is quite evident that we could benefit indefinitely
by a continued increase in our mental powers: to enable us to analyze more
profoundly; to recognize more readily common features when they lie deeply
buried; to grasp more and more elements of a situation at once and co-ordinately; to see more steps ahead; to think more
multidimensionally; and to imagine more creatively... If we hold fast to our
ideal, then evolution will become, for the first time, a conscious process...
That will be the highest form of freedom that man, or life, can have.
Hermann J. Muller. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 3:1. 1959
The pioneers of Eugenic Insemination by Donor... will be accused
of mortal sin, of theological impropriety, of immoral and unnatural practices.
But they can take heart from what has happened in the field of birth control,
and can be confident that the rational control of reproduction aimed at the
prevention of human suffering and frustration and the promotion of human
well-being and fulfillment will in the not too distant future come to be
recognized as a moral imperative.
Julian Huxley. Eugenics Review 54:123. 1963
My own first conclusion is that the technology of human genetics
is pitifully clumsy, even by the standards of practical agriculture.
Joshua Lederburg. Biological Future of
Man. 1963
Natural selection must be replaced by eugenical artificial
selection. This idea constitutes the sound core of eugenics, the applied
science of human betterment.
Theodosius Dobzhansky. Heredity and the Nature of Man. 1964
... impregnation will be regarded in an entirely different manner,
more in the light of a surgical operation, so that it will be thought not
ladylike to have it performed in the natural manner.
Bertrand Russell. The Scientific Outlook. 1972
Although we are all playing a game of genetic roulette, there is
no reason that we should not provide greater scrutiny over sperm donations.
J. Kerby Anderson. Genetic Engineering. 1982
The mystery of birth and of the transmission of characteristics
from parent to offspring has always intrigued the human mind. ... It would be
tempting now to ask geneticists to evolve better human beings. But who will
decide what is better?
Indira Gandhi. XV International Congress of Genetics. 1983
A 10-page essay on human genetic improvement:
Proposal for Human Progeny Testing, by Paul VanRaden. 1985
A poem about mixed race marriages:
Crossbred Pedigree, by Paul VanRaden
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