Thread: Social Darwinism Pseudo-science?

Could social darwinism, if applied to somehow target the unintelligent in society, even work? Would the effects of what is essentially eugenics even have effects exceeded marginality? There was a discussion on another forum I visit about the viability of "social darwinism", although I don't believe it's really connected to Darwin's theory. On one hand, could the collective intelligence of society be raised by eliminating the unintelligent? Or also, would it even be beneficial to society to wage eugenics against the unintelligent? I'm not a supporter of what's commonly called Social Darwinism, just curious if any of its points are valid? Thanks, and sorry for being incoherent.

Originally Posted by shlunka

On one hand, could the collective intelligence of society be raised by eliminating the unintelligent?

I don't know for certain - but it must surely be worth trying.

And what's the worst that could happen?
Some dumb people are killed: so what!
You won't even notice my absence.

It's a really sad thought. That's why I always advocate simply lowering the population as a whole, rather than selecting specifically against any particular sub-group of that population.

As it stands, the fate of the under-intelligent in modern capitalist society is to remain poor (usually anyway). They get reduced access to resources. If they were then forced to breed at the same rate as the highly intelligent (instead of being allowed to overdo it), then remaining poor should be enough.

I am a little bit scared of seeing society get overrun with under-intelligent people if their numbers were to grow disproportionately. As the population grows, our reliance on high technology becomes greater and greater because that technology is the only way we can stretch our resources far enough to accommodate everyone. But maintaining a high tech economy requires that there be a favorable percentage of smart people.

IQ tests aren't perfect, but they're very good at predicting who will be good at math. That, in turn, predicts who is going to be good at keeping the machines running.

In my experience (YMMV) there aren't actually that many stupid people.
Instead, there are many uneducated people.

I knew someone who left his UK school in ~1990 unable to read or write.
How the hell could that happen?!
13 years at school and none of the teachers noticed he couldn't read??

So people thought him stupid.
But he could repair most cars - which is quite impressive when you aren't able to read.

As with most things: education holds the key.