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Dysgenics

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Dysgenics is a term describing a system of breeding where selection is for deleterious traits. Similarly, it is also described as the study of factors relating to or causing a decrease in the survival of the genetically well-adapted members of a line of descent. Dysgenic mutations have been studied in a variety of animals such as the mouse and the fruit fly . The existence of a dysgenic trend in humans is often proposed by supporters of eugenics; however, the existence of a dysgenic effect has never been proven in humans, and is generally considered a fringe or even a junk science concept.

History of the term

The term first came into use as an opposite of eugenics, a social philosophy advocating improvement of human hereditary qualities, often by social programs or government intervention.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "dysgenic" was first used as an adjective as early as 1915 by David Starr Jordan to describe the "dysgenic effect" of World War I. He believed that fit men were as likely to die from modern warfare as anyone else, and war was seen as killing off only the physically fit male members of the population while the disabled stayed safely at home.

In 1963, Weyl and Possony asserted that comparatively small differences in average IQ can become very large differences in the very high IQ ranges. A decline in average IQ of only a few points will mean a much smaller population of gifted individuals.

A dysgenic effect caused by lead was blamed as the culprit of the Decline of the Roman Empire , however that theory was refuted after measurements of lead from the bones of Roman-era skeletons did not prove to be high enough to adversely affect their health.

William Shockley (a Nobel laureate in Physics) used the term in his controversial advocacy of eugenics from the mid 1960s through the 1980s. Shockley argued that "the future of the population was threatened because people with low IQs had more children than those with high IQs," and his theories "became increasingly controversial and race-based".

Robert K. Graham in 1998 argued that genocide and class warfare, in cases ranging from the French Revolution to the present, have had a dysgenic effect through the killing of the more intelligent by the less intelligent, and "might well incline humanity toward a more primitive, more brutish level of evolutionary achievement."

Research on differential fertility

A small group of researchers, alleged by some to be motivated by political ideology or racism, has studied differential fertility throughout the first world; demographic studies indicate that, in affluent nations, women with higher IQs and better education have much lower reproductive rates than women with lower IQs and less education. Because IQ and educational attainment are known to be correlated and IQ is in part heritable, these researchers argued that this could cause a decline in IQ in these nations.

Studies into the subject were carried out on individuals starting even before the advent of IQ testing, in the late 19th century. The results obtained were often contradictory.

The Flynn Effect

The most important contraindication to dysgenic declines in IQ has been that IQ scores themselves have not been falling, but rising, in a trend known as the Flynn Effect. As noted by Steve Connor in his refutation of the existence of a dysgenic trend: "intelligence as measured by IQ tests has actually increased over the past 50 years."

If it is true that the genes underlying IQ have been shifting, it is reasonable to expect that IQ throughout the population should also shift in the same direction, yet the reverse has clearly occurred. Retherford & Sewell claimed that genotypic IQ may fall even while phenotypic IQ rises throughout the population due to environmental effects (e.g. better schooling, nutrition, television, and so on). The Flynn Effect has increased IQ scores as much as 15 points throughout the first world, but some researchers claim that this trend now shows signs of reversal. See the section on the possible end of the Flynn Effect for further information.

Dysgenic fallacy

It is well-established that a negative correlation between fertility and IQ has existed in many parts of the world at various times. It has even been argued that this was true of Ancient Rome. While it may seem obvious that differential fertility would result in a progressive change in IQ, it is a fallacy that applies only to closed subpopulations. As long as child IQ can be higher or lower that that of the parents, an equilibrium is established. Subsequently, the mean IQ will not change, in the absence of a change in the differential fertility. The steady-state IQ distribution will be lower for negative differential fertility and for positive, but these differences are small. Even for the extreme, and unrealistic assumption, of endogamous mating in IQ subgroups, a differential fertility change of 2.5/1.5 to 1.5/2.5 (high IQ/low IQ), causes as shift of only 4 IQ points. For random mating, the shift is less than 1 IQ point.

In music, film and literature

  • H. G. Wells' 1895 novel, The Time Machine, describes a future world where humanity has degenerated into two distinct branches who have their roots in the class distinctions of Wells' day. Both have sub-human intelligence and other putative dysgenic traits.
  • Cyril M. Kornbluth's short story "The Marching Morons" is an example of dysgenic fiction.
  • T. J. Bass's novels Half Past Human and The Godwhale describe humanity becoming cooperative and "low-maintenance" to the detriment of all other traits.
  • Mike Judge's 2006 film Idiocracy is a comedy about a future where dysgenics has contributed to mass stupidity.

See also

References

Cited

  1. Definition of dysgenic from "The CancerWEB Project", Newcastle University.
  2. Encarta definition of dysgenics
  3. Restoration of excitation—contraction coupling and slow calcium current in dysgenic muscle by dihydropyridine receptor complementary DNA
  4. Evolution of hybri dysgenesis determinants in Drosophila melanogaster
  5. Nazi Eugenics and the Origins of the Pioneer Fund
  6. Jordan, David Starr (2003 (Reprint)). War and the Breed: The Relation of War to the Downfall of Nations. Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1-4102-0900-8. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. McNish, Ian "David Starr Jordan on the Dysgenic effects of dysfunctional culture," Mankind Quarterly. Washington: Fall 2002.Vol.43, Iss. 1; pg. 81
  8. Weyl, N. & Possony, S. T: The Geography of Intellect, 1963, s. 154
  9. Gillfallen, S. Colum (1965, Jan-Mar). "Roman Culture and Dysgenic Lead Poisoning". The Mankind Quarterly. 5 (3): pp. 131-148. ISSN 0025-2344. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Needleman, Lionel (1985). "Lead Poisoning and the Decline of the Roman Aristocracy". Classical Views. 4 (1): pp. 63-94. ISSN 0012-9356. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. Grout (October 10 2006). "Lead Poisoning and Rome". Encyclopaedia Romana. James. Retrieved 2006-04-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. "William Shockley 1910 - 1989". A Science Odyssey People and Discoveries. PBS online. 1998. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
  13. William Shockley, Roger Pearson: Shockley on Eugenics and Race: The Application of Science to the Solution of Human Problems Scott-Townsend Publishers, ISBN 978-1878465030
  14. Graham, Robert K. "Devolution by revolution: Selective genocide ensuing from the French and Russian revolutions," Mankind Quarterly. Washington: Fall 1998.Vol.39, Iss. 1; pg. 71
  15. Rowe, David C. (1999). "Herrnstein's Syllogism: Genetic and Shared Environmental Influences on IQ, Education, and Income". Intelligence. 26(4): 405–423. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  16. Neisser, Ulric; et al. (1996). "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns". American Psychologist. 51(2): 77–101. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  17. Huntington, E., & Whitney, L. The Builders of America. New York: Morrow, 1927.
  18. Kirk, Dudley. "The fertility of a gifted group: A study of the number of children of men in WHO'S WHO." In The Nature and Transmission of the Genetic and Cultural Characteristics of Human Populations. New York: Milbank Memorial Fund, 1957, pp.78-98.
  19. Osborn, F. (1972). "The eugenic hypothesis". Social Biology. 19: 337–345. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. Osborne, R. (1975). "Fertility, IQ and school achievement". Psychological Reports. 37: 1067–1073.
  21. Cattell, R. B. (1974). "Differential fertility and normal selection for IQ: Some required conditions in their investigation". Social Biology. 21: 168–177.
  22. Kirk, Dudley (1969). "The genetic implications of family planning". Journal of Medical Education. 44 (supplement 2): 80–83.
  23. Connor, Steve (December 22 1996). "Stalking the Wild Taboo; Professor predicts genetic decline and fall of man". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2008-04-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  24. Retherford, R. D., & Sewell, W. H. (1988). "Intelligence and family size reconsidered." Social Biology, 35, 1−40.
  25. Teasdale, Thomas (2008). "Secular declines in cognitive test scores: A reversal of the Flynn Effect". Intelligence. 36 (2). {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. Lynn, Richard (2008). "The decline of the world's IQ". Intelligence. 36 (2). {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. Preston, Samuel H. (Mar., 1993). "Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits: The Case of IQ". The American Journal of Sociology. 98 (5). The University of Chicago Press: pp. 997-1019. Retrieved 2008-04-22. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  28. Lam, David (Mar., 1993). "Comment on Preston and Campbell's "Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits"". The American Journal of Sociology. 98 (5). The University of Chicago Press: pp. 1033-1039. Retrieved 2008-04-22. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

General

  • Galor, Oded and Omer Moav: Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Review of Economics 117 (2002) 1133-1191.
  • Hamilton, W. D. (2000) A review of Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations. Annals of Human Genetics 64 (4), 363-374. doi: 10.1046/ j.1469-1809.2000.6440363.
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