Eugenics has been defined as "the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity." Any reasonable person will agree with the argument laid out in this essay.
By Marian Van Court
Eugenics is concerned with the current direction of human evolution. Thousands of articles have been published in scholarly journals, tons of dirt have been sifted through with tiny brushes in search for skulls, vast amounts of grant money awarded to researchers, and many entire careers spent trying to discover how we evolved larger brains and greater intelligence up to the point of Homo sapiens, and this is a fascinating and worthwhile endeavor. But what is urgent, what is arguably the most important question facing our species, is where human beings are evolving right now. Are we evolving in a favorable direction, or an unfavorable one?
It's true that natural selection has virtually ceased to operate in many parts of the world today, but evolution continues because human reproduction is far from random. Just as history marches on indefinitely into the future, both in war and in peace, so, too, does evolution. Reproductive patterns of each generation shape the innate character of successive generations, whether for better, or for worse.
The focus of this paper will be on intelligence. Here's the argument, in a nutshell:
1. Human intelligence is largely hereditary.
2. Civilization depends totally upon innate intelligence.
Without innate intelligence, civilization would never have been created. When intelligence declines, so does civilization.
3. The higher the level of civilization, the better off the population.
Civilization is not an either-or proposition. Rather, it's a matter of degree, and each degree, up or down, affects the well-being of every citizen.
4. At the present time, we are evolving to become less intelligent with each new generation.
Why is this happening? Simple: the least-intelligent people are having the most children.
5. Unless we halt or reverse this trend, our civilization will invariably decline.
Any decline in civilization produces a commensurate increase in the collective "misery quotient."
Logic and scientific evidence stand behind each statement listed above.
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