I was interested to see two new eugenics-related items in the news. First, the scary-ass philosopher John Harris:
If it is right to save life, Harris says, it is right to postpone death ad infinitum by stemming the flow of diseases that carry us to the grave. We should engineer ourselves to be free of such curses as cancer and dementia, instead of believing that they are acceptable inevitabilities of human life. And we should make any such technology available as soon as we can, even if it means the human race initially splitting into the strong, clever, beautiful, immortal haves and the dumber, disease-ridden have-nots.
Sci fi come alive!
I’m all for longevity, but come on. Also, clearly this boy is ignoring issues of race, class, etc.. Obviously he is thinking of himself when imagining this glorious, posthuman immortality; perhaps an eternal orgasm of self-satisfaction.
St. Aldous Huxley pray for us. Personally, I find his view of existence–a neverending rat race to be long-lived, gorgeous, smart, drugged-to-happiness–so fucking depressing. In any case, such developments are not likely to occur, I think. If they do occur, I feel a touch of schadenfreude in believing that they won’t happen until after John Harris himself is a corpse (hopefully plundered of his organs). Scientists haven’t even managed to cure the cold that plagued my sinuses last week; what makes him think science is going to add a few million years more to his life?
Harris also claims that Nazi racial policies were not so much intended to create a “better human” as to eliminate Jews, gypsies, etc. Apparently he has not been reading the same eugenics books as I have. Where does the man get his data?? I’m intrigued, but not sure that I have the time to waste on this bullshit while I’m thinking about writing my prospectus.
And then there’s James Watson, hearkening back to the “Bell Curve” and claiming that blacks are dumber than everyone else. The article observes: “He said he hoped that everyone was equal, but countered that “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true’.” If he’s relying on such anecdotal evidence, btw, I would have to add my anecdotal evidence to the pot–the African students at Dartmouth surpassed pretty much everyone else academically.
It’s sad to see a near-mythical figure (deserving or not) in the study of DNA take such a reactionary stance. I’m not surprised, however; I read an article of his awhile back for my genetics class that signalled his acceptance of eugenics. This seems to be a natural extension of such a stance, with the added flavor of grandpa-style tenured loudmouthery.
On the bright side of things, all this means that my historical research in eugenics will keep me employable for years to come. Still, scary stuff. Is anyone else frightened? Or am I just a coward in facing this brave new world?
