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 have learned to apply the laws of heredity so
as to modify and improve our breeds of domestic animals. Can the
knowledge and experience so gained be available to man, so as
to enable him to improve the species to which he himself belongs?
Alexander Graham Bell. A few thoughts concerning eugenics (National
Geographic, February) 1908
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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