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I've also seen two parents of below average intelligence make children who are of above average intelligence, and thats not even uncommon.
by Aloha 4y ago
I've also seen two parents of below average intelligence make children who are of above average intelligence, and thats not even uncommon.
- klipt 4y agoWell yeah in fact regression to the mean predicts that below average people will on average have children smarter than themselves while above average people will have children less smart than themselves (but still smarter than average). That's not my point, my point is more that it's funny that people do things like going to college when this predictably causes them to have fewer children i.e. college actually hurts their evolutionary fitness.
- Aloha 4y agoI think if you're thinking about evolutionary fitness when having children, or deciding how many children to have, you should fundamentally reevaluate your moral and ideological system. That line of thinking is the beginning or the road to eugenics, and it goes no place good.
- medvezhenok 4y agoEugenics is about imposing a system on society where only a chosen group of people get to have offspring, not about your individual choices or your kids. Otherwise choosing a mate you're attracted to becomes paramount to eugenics. Also, everyone is thinking about evolutionary fitness. Some people just do it explicitly (and others do it by instinct/intuition)
- klipt 4y agoDo you also think women shouldn't be allowed to abort Down syndrome babies because "that's eugenics"?
- dane-pgp 4y agoDo you think that the state shouldn't be allowed to kill unwanted Down syndrome babies after they are born because "that's eugenics"? What about Down syndrome adults, who are reliant on state benefits? In case it's not clear, I don't support the killing of disabled people at any age, but I understand that different people approach these questions from a different set of assumptions. My point is that adding scare quotes around "that's eugenics" doesn't stop it from being an accurate description, so your question is not the gotcha you might think it is.
- klipt 4y agoI don't think the state should be in the business of killing anyone. But a woman aborting a Downs baby is not the state killing anyone, and most pro choice people would say the woman isn't killing anyone either, since the fetus isn't a person in their view.