Eugenics is a dirty and ambiguous word. Mass killing of people based on criteria? Let’s not do that. Reducing opportunities and quality of life for people we

Eugenics is a dirty and ambiguous word. Mass killing of people based on criteria? Let’s not do that. Reducing opportunities and quality of life for people we don’t want to breed? Let’s not do that. Forced sterilization of populations? No. Rewards for voluntary sterilization? (This selects based on socioeconomic status and moral values.) I don’t like this. You might be surprised to hear this is happening in India right now. Fines for having too many children? (Again, this selects on socioeconomic status and moral values.) I don’t like this. You’re probably already aware this is happening in China. Removing existing monetary or tax-break incentives that encourage having more children? We have a lot of child support/relief programs in Australia. They cause a sort of inverse selection by socioeconomic and moral values. I’m not sure how I feel about them. They really do improve the quality of life for the parents and the children, but they make having a child a less scary decision, which undoubtedly removes some of the hesitation that may have otherwise made a more reckless person think twice. Researching genetics, culture and education and building programs that help people understand how nature and nurture will affect their unborn or young children. YES! These programs should be available to everyone. It should be mandatory to get a “child report” before having a child. But the exact contents of the child report should not be available to anyone but the prospective parents. (Aggregate anonymized should be available to all, though, to help with society-level planning.) Wide-spread education on life planning? Openly marketing “Don’t have children before you’re ready!” ? Researching happiness and success metrics and publicizing the results in an accessible way, to help people realize the consequences of having children? Yes, yes, yes! mrmuagi’s comment captures it well. If you look at a child in isolation, there are definitely preferable genes, cultural aspects, and educational aspects. For example, you want them to have a college-level degreee. You want them to not have asthma or eczema. There will be children. How can we sway the forces of nature — in a way that most of us are okay with — toward preferable genes, culture, and education? If we don’t steer the boat, we may not like where it goes.