There are three sides to eugenics. Good, bad, and bizarre.
An example of good eugenics has to be put down to just plain luck. It happened in one of the idealistic communes of northern European immigrants in New York State in the 19th Century. Though they believed in strong families, procreation was based solely on the judgment of the leader. A woman was strong and a man was smart, so they were ordered to make a baby, that would then be raised by her and her husband. In three generations, this commune produced some 60 or so national leaders in many fields. But had it continued another generation, it would have genetically collapsed because of inbreeding.
A bad result of Eugenics is already happening with smart people. Tending to marry each other, we have now discovered to our horror that the children of two smart people are often autistic. Far more than for the rest of the population.
A bizarre case of what Eugenics might be came with a poll that went into far more detail about what typical parents might want if their child could be engineered to their specifications. At first, they responded typically with "smart", "pretty", and "athletic". However, with more and more questions, people started to admit that they would really like their children to have more 'feline' and 'canine' qualities. People seem to get along better with their pets than each other, so these people figured that if their children were more like cats or dogs, then everyone would like them.
Eugenics up to now [and for a while in the future] has been/will be conducted with a sledgehammer. Really interesting stuff could become possible in 100-200 years, when we will be rewriting genomes in minute detail.
Have you got a reference/link/whatever for that? That's the first time I've seen that assertion. Thanks!
That very odd. Do you have a link for that?
In the movie "A.I." - a company pioneers the development of robotic children capable of feeling and expressing true love, as an alternative for people unable to qualify for biological children under a population-control regimen. The robot children are perfect in every way - dutiful, obedient, loving children who never grow up.
In the epilogue of the film, the population-control regimen was too successful, and the robot children were too marketable, and the human race has gone extinct, leaving the descendants of the feeling robots searching for ancient clues to the nature of their human creators.
Given the demographics of reproductive rates, it seems that western civilization is headed down the same road, but without the solace of robotic heirs who care that our civilization ever existed.