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| <center>Centering Eugenics and the Family</center>
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| - Targeted interventions, such as sterilization, could not breed our defects; even if viable, those techniques would show results only after thousands of years of regulated procreation
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| - Many eugenicists viewed population control as a vehicle for modernization, the introduction of liberal democracy, and, if properly pursued, world peace.
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| - Two directions had formed: an outward view focusing on the global framework and an inward view focusing on the family
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| - Many eugenicists blamed racialized population subdivisions, principally those in the Third World, for resource depletion, skyrocketing fertility, and environmental degradation
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| - Negative Eugenics- marriage restrictions, immigration quotas and compulsory sterilizations
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| - Positive Eugenics- concentrated on encouraging those deemed fit to reproduce in higher numbers
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| Eugenics, Reprogenics and the People of Tomorrow
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| Society today seems to be engulfed with improving their current situations in life and modeling themselves after others. But what would a specific person constitute as perfect? It could be a physical feature to make them more attractive, an indestructable physice for dominating athletic events, or it could even be as subtle as making people see colors for the first time. When eugenics was brought into the mainstream by Nazi scientists, there was an outcry from people around the world about the Germans trying to create the perfect race. Now, the notion of creating a perfect person free of disease and flaws some how has become a good thing. Enhancements are starting off as a theorputic device in order to help people with certain diseases, but as the American consumer is becoming more willing to pay for anything to help their image, it is only a matter of time before theropy turns to a necessity for the rich.
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| Along with the monetary aspect of human enhancement, there is the moral and ethical questions of “Why should we do itâ€, “Is it worth itâ€, and “What are the risks involved for myself and othersâ€? Plastic surgery and laser surgery was seen years ago as enhancement and many scientists, along with others, see enhancement of people as just going with the times. But some scientists are driven by ego and by Hollywood which can lead to having the X-Men come off the screen and into your neighborhood. Consumer demand will drive the researchers to development seemingly anything as long as the consumer can afford. This can all be linked to a more modern form of eugenics, even though when eugenics was first formed it was more of a compulsorary movement. For people considering enhancement of humans, there are four main points to consider:
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| Safety
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| Cheating
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| Hubris
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| Equality
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| With all of the new technology that seems to be invented daily, a new kind of science is trying to break the barriers of conventional genetics and enter into the eugenic sphere. This new branch of genetics, referred to as reprogenetics, is a science aimed at altering or improving the reproductive process. The advantages of investing in reprogenetics for some would include more interpretation of DNA and a higher reinsertion rate of embryos into the host mother. Some possible goals of reprogenetics would include a higher disease prevention rate, human enhancement and reproductive autonomy. Eugenics, again, was first seen as a social policy with the government involved that would be a compulsory program for the betterment of a society. Reprogenetics is a newly formed definition for the same types enhancements that people want to make for themseleves and their families. An example of a modern form of eugenics which does not involve a government agent would be market eugenics. Market eugenics is a case where insurance companies would put pressure on parents to create a healthier child so the insurance companies would not have to pay out more money for healthcare. This would lead to a homemade/consumer eugenics program where parents could preselect certain traits for their child and, if certain traits are not formed correctly, a more advanced form of selective abortion would take its place.
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