RE: Improvement( was)Is Eugenics Really A Bad Thing?The point the author of the book was making, I think, is that if you want to make people healthier, genetic engineering techniques are not much help; dropping planefares and immigration barriers will do a better job than us tinkering ever can.
I dont think eugenics is very transhuman. There are so many other ways of "improving" ourselves; at least, changing ourselves as we see fit as individuals, and in ways we deem personally to be positive. Better to keep the central planning out of the gene pool, and keep the diversity in; it's probably going to be useful to have all that "second rate" dna kicking around in the future. Who knows, those people with the sickle cell anaemia, sick as they are, might be the only ones to survive a mutant strain of maleria that wipes everyone else out (just as an example).
Emlyn
----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Reeves
To: 'extropians@extropy.com'
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 11:54 PM
Subject: RE: Improvement( was)Is Eugenics Really A Bad Thing?
Exactly, inbreeding for a few generations tends to fix certain characteristics. If you then outbreed weaknesses are recessive and so do not show up in the phenotype.
-----Original Message-----
From: Emlyn (onetel) [mailto:emlyn@one.net.au]
Sent: 03 July 2000 14:31
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: Improvement( was)Is Eugenics Really A Bad Thing?
In a pop sci book I was reading on genetics recently, the author claimed that the positive effect of genetic engineering techniques on combating heritable diseases will be dwarfed by the recent increase in the mixing of the people of the world because of increasing globalisation. Apparently most genetic diseases have a local & recessive character; increased outbreeding leeds to far smaller incidence of recessives pairing up, so a large over-all drop in the incidence of such disease.
Emlyn
----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Reeves
To: 'extropians@extropy.com'
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 11:12 PM
Subject: RE: Improvement( was)Is Eugenics Really A Bad Thing?
Actually inbreeding is quite good as long as you outbreed every few generations to weed out the genetic weaknesses
-----Original Message-----
From: Replicant00@aol.com [mailto:Replicant00@aol.com]
Sent: 01 July 2000 16:28
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: Improvement( was)Is Eugenics Really A Bad Thing?
In a message dated 7/1/2000 7:39:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
goldengarden@arjang.mail.telia.com writes:
> What has improving the stock got to do with keeping it white,
> Caucasian or european?
>
yes good point
Inbreeding as far as I know causes more deterioration than good.
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