We might consider programs that pay for people with desirable traits to reproduce.
The question is: who gets to decide what the “desirable traits” are? Eugenicists seem to focus a lot on the desirability of racial traits, which I vehemently disagree with. If the eugenicists got their way, I don’t think the future they’d create is one I would consider desirable. And this has been a central part of the movement since its inception. The founder of eugenics, sir Galton, created a racial hierarchy with whites at the top and wrote things like:
There exists a sentiment, for the most part quite unreasonable, against the gradual extinction of an inferior race.
Now, just because you’ve named your account after him and advocate for eugenics doesn’t automatically mean you secretly share that view, but hopefully you can forgive someone for becoming somewhat concerned.
So I read this and your original subreddit post “Compassionate Eugenics as a Cause Area” and I have some concerns. You say:
The question is: who gets to decide what the “desirable traits” are? Eugenicists seem to focus a lot on the desirability of racial traits, which I vehemently disagree with. If the eugenicists got their way, I don’t think the future they’d create is one I would consider desirable. And this has been a central part of the movement since its inception. The founder of eugenics, sir Galton, created a racial hierarchy with whites at the top and wrote things like:
Now, just because you’ve named your account after him and advocate for eugenics doesn’t automatically mean you secretly share that view, but hopefully you can forgive someone for becoming somewhat concerned.