Intelligence doesn't make you more ethical. If they "won," the future intelligent people they created would still be raised by parents who believed in eugenics, and so they too would likely regard it as good.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
-1 points (48.3% liked)
Ask Lemmy
33493 readers
2653 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Which eugenicists?
There a big difference between "kill everyone of a certain race" and "you don't get to reproduce if you have a horrifying heritable disease".
Both are unjustifiable. Governments should never get to decide who's allowed to reproduce.
Eugenics isn't just done by government. The world has been limiting the reproduction of the disabled through social pressure for ages. Look at the stigma interracial relationships used to have. Examples are everywhere.
Why does everyone think eugenics only means the way the Nazis did it?
It's a broad term people. The government is the most heavy handed way to implement it but social pressure is arguably more effective and harder to end.
That is also wrong.
Im not playing that game. They can try to rebrand but to me they are the same.
to me they are the same.
Well, it's a shame for you that the definitions for words don't care about your feelings.
Do any surface level research on eugenics and it's always first and foremost about things like forced sterilization/select so called "superior" people for breeding and the like. Even when nazi Germany is mentioned the focus is on forced sterilization and support for the families considered "superior" over those that aren't.
The ethnic cleansing done in nazi Germany, while used in tandem with eugenics, is its own seperate thing.
I think you lost my meaning. It the other poster who wants to claim preventing disease by ending pregnancy early is eugenics.
Either I didnt say something right or I completely agree with you.
Well, once involves mass murder and the other doesn't, so I think the people being impacted by that would see a difference.
But if your worldview needs overgeneralizations to survive, you do you I guess.
Then call it something else, I dont care if you think if it fits the definition, you can modify the term or create a new one. Normalizing eugenics is insanity.
Look. If you want to talk about ethnic cleansing, talk about ethnic cleansing. If you want to talk about mass murder, talk about mass murder. But the term "eugenics" covers a lot of possibilities whether you like that or not.
Sorry.
Probably some pretty fucked up shit like forced sterilization and genocides
Intelligent people don't always come to the same conclusions.
If the entire society has been based on eugenics from the beginning, that IS their moral compass. Much like how most of us hold Democracy with such high regard. Our last election now has me wondering if letting 100 million ignorant people choose a rapist felon for our leader is actually the BEST way, but giving every person a voice and a vote is our political morality.
I suspect a eugenics based society would recognize the "inconveniences" that some people face, but their idea of "greater good for society" will outweigh a lot of that.
Definitely not supporting the idea of eugenics, but I do think that people who were raised on it, would see it in a more positive light than we do now.
Youre not supporting the idea of eugenics because you know it to be lunacy. If they were acting in good faith, the more intelligent society would recognize the lunacy as well. If not they would remain dumb.
Science is consistent. If mankind started over from scratch, they would eventually come to the same scientific conclusions as us.
Society and morality is VERY abstract and every society has their own unique spin on it. We have no idea what societal structures would exist after a hypothetical human reset.
Democracy revolves around "every body has value", and in that light, elimination of "inferior" people is horrific.
But eugenics is more of a "sacrifice some for the greater good" kind of belief, and they would believe that their actions are morally superior to the "selfishness of having unauthorized offspring".
Societies have 100% operated under other moral structures. Under the moral operative that human life is inherently valuable our society has progressed further then any other recorded civilization.
Honestly? Nothing except a lot of pointless suffering. Eugenics isn't just immoral; it literally does not work. The nazis did their damnedest to kill all people with schizophrenia during the Holocaust. Schizophrenia numbers were back up to normal within a couple decades.
See this video (linked to the correct timestamp) for more on why eugenics doesn't actually do anything.
There would be a lot less creativity and innovation if Eugenisists had their way. Think about it. If everyone was the same, where would new and innovative ideas https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-matters-even-more-the-case-for-holistic-impact)? Even worse how many ideas would die with their people? Who are the people we are getting rid of?
Racially motivated eugenisists have been around for ever and kill civilization not help it (genocides). Gender related eugenics happen and it's usually women that pay (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/one-child-policy.asp). How do messure disability and the impact on ones life? IQ tests messure the ability to regurgitate facts not actual intelligence (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6927908/).
I'm sure I'm missing some, but this os more than enough to show if Eugenisists have any say we all will suffer.
IQ measures the likelihood of someone being successful based on an age category. It has little to do with actual critical thinking. In a society that only values IQ it becomes meaningless because its only feeding off itself.
Everyone become a clone trooper and the world looks so bland because it lacks diversity. Diversity make the world more colorful, more beautiful.
No opinion, but I suggest you watch the movie "Gattaca" if you didn't already
Its really good.