Per Wikipedia: “The modern field and term were first formulated by Sir Francis Galton in 1883,drawing on the recent work of his half-cousin Charles Darwin.” “At its peak of popularity eugenics was supported by a wide variety of prominent people, including Winston Churchill, Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, H. G. Wells, Theodore Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, John Harvey Kellogg, Linus Pauling and Sidney Webb. Many members of the American Progressive Movement supported eugenics, seduced by it’s scientific trappings and it’s promise of a quick end to social ills.”
The Wikipedia article goes on to explain that much of the Eugenics “science” drew from “selective breeding”, a procedure long practiced in England to produce ever-faster/stronger race horses. I know from personal experience that many people of my grandparents era, the “1920’s” actually believed in pieces of eugenics, in one form or another and there was quite some attention to whether children of the era married “up” or “down” the social ladder, it being believed that somehow social rank had something to do with smarts and strength. Of course Hitler painted a badge of shame on the whole movement.
Oddly enough, the “science” (or lack thereof(?)) beghind the movement seems to have been never up to the task. I lay that off to the huge complexity of the human genome which apparently produces near random results up and down the social strata. Thus, and particularly in the U.S. which is a largely “classless” or “casteless” society, it’s not unusual to see highly intelligent/successful couples birth utter idiots. Oddly enough, some of the dumbest people I’ve met have been highly educated rich kids from “old” money families. By the same token, we’ve seen brilliance born into families of meager means. It’s truly quite strange the way this all works.
And then of course, there’s the problem of what’s “smart”. It’s been said Einstein could barely dress himself. On the other hand I’ve met people who never graduated high school who were quite brilliant business people. It seems to me there is a wide variety of inteligences. Some of the toughest, street-smart women I’ve ever met were Catholic nuns who had no more than a high school education. I’ve seen them personally take on and handily master and intimidate would be, grown men caught in the act of theft or pick-pocket. Eagle eyes, sharp toungues, sharp wits and absolutely no fear whatsoever!
The “Human” condition is powerfull strange. That’s probably why it’s best not to thwart the Creator’s guiding hand in all of this; it’s too big and variable for us to comprehend.
Great observations,dear friend,I have noticed the same thing!
Eugenics had the support of pretty much all the most authoritative evolutionary biologists. So, if it was rubbish from the get go, what does that tell us about evolutionary biologists?