The major problem with your post (and with eugenics) is that you assume desirable genetics are good genetics. In reality, there is no such thing as “good” genetics. Either you survive or you don’t, a person with many ailments can live longer and have more children than a conventionally fit person, because we live in a dynamic environment with volcanoes and staircases and murderers. The best genetics are a wide variety of genetics, because the environment is ever changing and what is good today may not be good in 10000 years, and if you breed out the “bad” genetics, you won’t have the tools available to deal with the changed environment.
Any kind of selection of partners should happen as unconsciously as possible. This is partly why most people fall in love with strangers and don’t select partners with the exact optimal genes. There is no dating app that matches you with your exactly optimal genetic partner (don’t get any ideas if you live in silicon valley), people don’t want that and it speaks to our innate desire to select a variety of genes rather than the “best” genes. Even though genes that happen to be good in the current environment tend to be more selected for, this happens naturally and unconsciously which is what separates it from eugenics. Eugenics always involves some authority deciding which genetics are good and bad and then organising social structures to enforce those categories. This is obviously wrong.
The major problem with your post (and with eugenics) is that you assume desirable genetics are good genetics. In reality, there is no such thing as “good” genetics. Either you survive or you don’t, a person with many ailments can live longer and have more children than a conventionally fit person, because we live in a dynamic environment with volcanoes and staircases and murderers. The best genetics are a wide variety of genetics, because the environment is ever changing and what is good today may not be good in 10000 years, and if you breed out the “bad” genetics, you won’t have the tools available to deal with the changed environment.
Any kind of selection of partners should happen as unconsciously as possible. This is partly why most people fall in love with strangers and don’t select partners with the exact optimal genes. There is no dating app that matches you with your exactly optimal genetic partner (don’t get any ideas if you live in silicon valley), people don’t want that and it speaks to our innate desire to select a variety of genes rather than the “best” genes. Even though genes that happen to be good in the current environment tend to be more selected for, this happens naturally and unconsciously which is what separates it from eugenics. Eugenics always involves some authority deciding which genetics are good and bad and then organising social structures to enforce those categories. This is obviously wrong.