You are reading a single comment by @ffm and its replies. Click here to read the full conversation.
  • ^^^

    It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral
    grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in
    practice. Of course it would. It works for cows, horses, pigs, dogs &
    roses. Why on earth wouldn’t it work for humans? Facts ignore
    ideology.

    https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1228995403837837313

  • Am I missing something here? Isn't he just saying that selective breeding for a particular trait is theoretically possible in any species (including us), but we don't do it because it's morally deplorable?

  • I think there are a number of things wrong with it, the biggest being the use of "works".

    It worked for the Nazi's when they tried it (which is why the tweet is getting so much flack). So without defining what he means by "works" its an entirely empty statement which is pointless at best, and potentially pretty harmful since it can embolden and legitimize people who think maybe the Nazi's had the right idea actually.

    Saying it "works" for animals is also misleading - since as often as not it doesn't, almost every example of selective breeding for specific traits in animals comes with pretty negative consequences for the well-being of the animals, since it turns out that we actually don't know as much about what works as we'd like to imagine.

About

Avatar for ffm @ffm started