Statistics and Eugenics

Why Statistics Matter

When trying to convince a population about something, it helps to have facts to back up what is being said. Eugenics is similar to Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”, however, this survival is not the natural survival that Darwin was describing. When he hypothesized that the fit would out survive the unfit, he did not have in mind that the fit would be scientifically defined to survive with the other “fit” ones.

However, there was a movement to define these fit ones and it was done creating hypotheses and searching for the answer by using statistics. The statistics that were created have a lasting place in the mathematic community. The application of these statistics on the other hand were misrepresented or misread to further the eugenic cause.