Thread:Forum:Genetic evolution vs memetic evolution (LQT!)/Gene propogation machines/reply (30)

Why should anyone care about their evolutionary function - well, if you believe, as I do, that the root of ethics is evolutionary then the two are closely linked.

The metaphysics of morality get well complicated and its hard to find logical reasons why eugenics is a "bad thing". However my point is that it is against the evolutionarily predisposed will of the people. It can be sold when it is generally agreed that those who are to be deprived of "breeding rights" are those who have no voice anyway but if you're suggesting, as Lumenarse is, that we should use eugenics to breed a master-race - remember that this is where we came in - then the dispossessed will be the bulk of the population.

So, whether eugenics is right or wrong I am saying that at the level Lumenarse suggested it would be against the will of the population and unsellable. You would have to enforce it.

And, now that we're talking about right/wrong and good/bad why should intelligence be the selection criteria. It is just as valid to say that only Olympic athletes should be allowed to breed. Maybe we should be even more exclusive - only those who show top athletic skills and have an IQ > 140 and or, just as validly, only those who have an income in the top 1% - they're proven winners.

Isn't it odd how those who suggest eugenics are always in the "approved group".