User:Caromullen/sandbox

Article Evaluation

After reading the article entitled Race and Intelligence I have come to the conclusion that the article is very reliable and notable overall. The article covers so many details within the broader topic, this could be distracting to some, however if someone was looking for information on one specific idea within the article, they would find exactly what they are looking for. While many of the citations could be considered out dated, since many of them are from six or more years ago, I believe that all the information used is still relative and accurate to what is being talked about within this topic. Also a majority of the citations used are from very reputable sources. For the most part the article is neutral, there are some areas of it where the information is presented in a way that could be taken as having an opinion, but in general it is neutral. Within the Talk section, there are a lot of threads of ways to improve the article. Many of the conversations bring up good points, however not everyone within the thread is being a respectful contributor. Overall, I think this article is extremely well done and covers everything that applies to the topic of Race and Intelligence, if I were to improve anything I would maybe go back in and see if any specific anecdotes within the article are unnecessary, especially based on changing times. The article follows along well with the things we have talked about in class, shares similar ideas.

Eugenics in the United States

Eugenics after World War II

Genetic Engineering

After Hitler's advanced idea of eugenics, the movement lost its place in society for a bit of time. Although eugenics was not thought about much, aspects like sterilization were still going on, just not at such a public level. Although as technology developed so did the movement, the new technologies made way for genetic engineering. Instead of sterilizing people to ultimately get rid of "undesirable" people, genetic engineering "changes or removes genes to prevent disease or improve the body in some significant way."

One positive of genetic engineering is its ability to cure and prevent life-threatening diseases. Genetic engineering began in the 1970s, this is when scientists began to clone and engineer genes. From this scientists were able to create human insulin, the first-ever genetically-engineered drug. Because of this development, over the years scientists were able to create new drugs to treat devastating diseases. For example, in the early 1990s, a group of scientists were able to use a gene-drug to treat severe combined immunodeficiency in a little girl. This disease forces victims to live inside a sanitized bubble. Due to the gene therapy, the girl was cured and able to live outside of her plastic bubble. Developments like this are being made constantly because of genetic engineering, however genetic engineering also has many negatives.

One negative of genetic engineering is the practice of eliminating "undesirable traits" within humans and its ethics. This ultimately causes a link between genetic engineering and eugenics. This practice creates many social issues in society. Many people believe using genetic engineering to essentially "perfect" the human race is a damaging practice. For example, with current genetic tests, parents are able to test a fetus for any life-threatening diseases that may impact the child's life and then choose to abort the baby. The public fears this will cause issues due to the fact that practices like these may be used to eliminate entire groups of people, like the way Hitler used the idea. The basis of Hitler's movement was to create a superior Aryan race, he wanted to eliminate every other race. While he did not have the genetic engineering technology then, this technology could be used with similar tactics as Hitler with permanent modifications to human germ lines and the ability to terminate a pregnancy that won't produce the best baby. Genetic engineering can also lead to trait selection and enhancement in embryos. One dilemma with this application is that most genes have an effect on more than one area of the body. For example, there is a gene that deals with memory, when scientists altered this gene to improve memory and learning in mice, it also increased their sensitivity to pain. There is also the issue of whether it is ethical to do such a thing to embryos because they cannot consent to the procedure. This also leads to issues within a socio-economic standpoint. Many people see this as an opportunity for the rich to continue to improve their children when the poor are left to "suffer" with their "undesirable" genes.