Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

condition that keeps one from being maximally successful as a
member of the human species? But now we have an even trickier
question: How do we determine what constitutes human success,
and who makes that determination?
It is, in the end, a political question, and political questions are
sometimes resolved by rational means, but they are always a
function of power. Natural selection develops in accordance with
as animal husbandry, proceeds according to the whims of those
in power. Eugenics (animal husbandry applied to people) will
have the power.
Although differences are exaggerated into genetically determined
inferiority, our art shows that actual genetic diseases do not
eliminate the possibility of authentic human existence. For example,
shows episodes in the life of the Irish poet and
painter Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. Instead
of eliciting pity for the character with this severely life-affecting
condition, we are shown the humanity that lies beneath it. Brown is
both charming and obnoxious, alternatingly arrogant and insecure,
both strong and weak. In a word, he is human.
The eugenicists, in trying to remove the suffering that comes from
genetic defects, failed to see that people with genetic diseases are
Mason, A History of the Sciences, chapter 42.
Sturtevant, A History of Genetics.
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