Damek.

OK, let’s ignore the moral quandaries of eugenics. I want to talk about why it’s just plain stupid. But first, a quick & dirty evolution review:

1) Organisms do not evolve. Well, not individual animals, that is. Populations of organisms evolve.

2) Evolution of a population means that the gene pool (the genes available for reproduction within the population) changes over time.

3) This can happen via a few different mechanisms. One is Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Another is genetic drift. Both happen because a population has variety.

4) Natural selection: if all the members of a population have trouble retaining water, and a drought happens, they’re all going to die. However, if some members are better at retaining water, they may survive. A change in the environment therefore selects for the organisms more able to survive and reproduce that beneficial trait. This only happens because there is variety in the population..

We can therefore see that, in order to survive changes to a habitat, a species requires variety in order to be able to adapt to the changes. This is because a population cannot survive a challenge for which a solution does not exist. Therefore, eugenics, which by definition tries to reduce the variety in the human population, is stupid. It is idiotic. It is species suicide. We don’t know what we will be forced to face in our future, and the more different kinds of humans there are around to face it, the better we’ll fare.

Granted, humans can use technology to invent solutions to the problems we face, but our technology is not omnipotent. Consider viruses: we are still vulnerable to deadly viruses, and only genetic variation can save the species at large from the worst offenders.

It’s one thing to acknowledge biological variation within the overall human population. Yes, some people will be predisposed to lower or higher intelligence, or running speed, or metabolism. It’s quite another to establish value judgments to the variations.

Not that anyone nowadays argues for out and out eugenics, but when people like Pat Robertson make statements like “Europe is right now in the midst of racial suicide because of the declining birth rate” the same principle applies. Human cross-breeding is the best thing we can do to increase variety and make our species stronger. Who knows what combination of genes will be best for colonizing space? Who knows what different combination of genes will be best for facing a warming planet? Ad infinitum…

Variety is good. Racial concerns go flat in the face of that.

Socialism = workers own the means of production

Communism = state owns the means of production

Welfare State Capitalism = private ownership of the means of production, with progressive taxation and social programs to provide a safety net for the poor.

#3 is what we’ve had since the 1930s. Good stuff, I think. Of course, the taxation is hardly progressive anymore, and those private owners are chipping away at the safety nets, too.

But anyway, next time someone tells you such-and-such policy or legislation is “socialist,” be sure to ask them which workers are being granted ownership of which means of production…

A must read.

This semester I’m taking the second half of college-level Biology at BMCC, and as insurance, should I need to go to grad school, I’m taking a requisite college-level American history course, too, covering the Civil War through the 1980s. I just had my first history midterm yesterday, and I think I did OK. We just covered WWI, including looking at the 1917 Espionage Act and its 1918 extension, the Sedition Act. Scary legislation. Interesting to read the actual stuff.

Anyway, we also got to look at some groovy U.S. Government Approved WWI Propaganda posters, which should explain that image about cottage cheese. Somehow, it just spoke to me.

I also really liked this “Together We Win” poster, nobly depicting the valiant labor classes marching in lockstep to doom and exploitation. Hey, is that sailor winking at me? Oh, how easily that image could be repurposed for propaganda about the insidious dangers of the Gay Menace!

In Biology we’re learning about organ systems & functions, like the digestive & circulatory systems, and we’re finishing up dissection in lab. Kind of exciting, since I excused myself from dissection in high school, so I’ve never done it. We spent two weeks with a large frog (complete with a bellyfull of eggs!) and a fetal pig (the skin was tougher than I’d imagined, the organs more discreet and accessible than I’d thought). Last week we focused on just a heart (cow or sheep, I’m not sure). This Thursday we get to review it all as we see fit, and then next week is our second lab practical, where we’ll get to go around identifying various organs.

So I’m doing a lot of interesting stuff, but the classes are keeping me fully busy. I feel that everything else in my life has been put on hold, and I’m really looking forward to summer. So let me leave you with a fun summer thought:

Clear the way! Wowsers, isn’t lady liberty looking mighty hot?! I wouldn’t mind going swimming in her waters! And our boys’ muscles are positively rippling! My, isn’t that a big gun they have!

An excellent, astutely written post. I’ve never had the pleasure, but I expect my findings would be the same. My fantasies along these lines always include at least one person I have at least a passing attachment to. It’s not really a new insight or anything, but the post is still excellent.

via Erosblog.