(Incidentally, I’m not actually sure what is wrong with coercive eugenics in the general sense. If for example we have the technology to ensure that some very bad alleles are not passed on (such as those for Huntington’s disease), I’m not convinced that we shouldn’t require screening or mandatory in vitro for people with the alleles. This may be one reason this example didn’t occur to me. However, I suspect that discussion of this issue in any detail could be potentially quite mind-killing given unfortunate historical connections and related issues.)
The historical meaning of the term is problematic partly because it wasn’t based on actual gene testing—I doubt they even tried to sort out whether someone’s low IQ was inheritable or caused by, say, poor nutrition—and partly because it was, and still in some cases would be, very subjective in terms of what traits are considered undesirable. How many of us wouldn’t be here if there’d been genetic tests for autism/aspergers or ADD or other neurodifferences developed before we were born?
The historical meaning of the term is problematic partly because it wasn’t based on actual gene testing—I doubt they even tried to sort out whether someone’s low IQ was inheritable or caused by, say, poor nutrition—and partly because it was, and still in some cases would be, very subjective in terms of what traits are considered undesirable. How many of us wouldn’t be here if there’d been genetic tests for autism/aspergers or ADD or other neurodifferences developed before we were born?