Eugenics: Are We Really The Perfect Human?

The “Perfect” Human

Since the beginning of time, the human race has been trying to improve themselves. When Prometheus first appeared in Greek Mythology and stole fire from Zeus, it symbolized man taking his survival and his improvement in his own hands. In fact, many scientists and researchers believe they are doing the same. However, our quest to perfect humans is detrimental as it leads to eugenics and racism and which conflicts with the morals and values of our society as well as the huge effects on our health and environment. The thousands of murders and sterilization undertaken throughout history due to race hygiene and the “improvement” of the human species is horrendous. Though we believe that our society is past these nefarious beliefs, a similar kind of race ideology is integrated into our concept of finding and replicating the “perfect” human being. The fact remains that finding that “perfect” human is a highly subjective task. The world is full of different people who each have their own idea of the perfect human. This is dependant on their race, culture, religion, sex and several

The idea, that genetic an individual with a disability or agentic disease is not “perfect” enough for this world. This is when our ethics and morals come to play. Do we really believe that, for example, a baby pre-diagnosed with Down Syndrome is not enough for our society? We have to decide when “purifying” the human race becomes too much. Scientists have already begun to take subtle actions as abortions are paid by taxpayers in Canada which encourage elimination of “imperfect” individuals. Dr Brian Skotko, a paediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Boston, explains “that 92% of all women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of prenatal diagnoses of Down Syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancy”. We must think and ask do we really get to decide who is enough for this