NIH VideoCast - A Galaxy of Genius? The Enduring Dream of Controlling Human Heredity

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A Galaxy of Genius? The Enduring Dream of Controlling Human Heredity

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Air date:	Thursday, October 28, 2021, 12:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 511 (175 Live, 336 On-demand)
Category:	History
Runtime:	01:00:55
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	NIH History Office lecture Nathaniel Comfort, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University presents a history lecture, "A Galaxy of Genius? The Enduring Dream of Controlling Human Heredity". — "What a galaxy of genius might we not create!" burbled Francis Galton in 1865, exuberant about his conception of a voluntary human breeding program, to be informed by Darwinism. Subpar intelligence, he was convinced, lay at the root of poverty, promiscuity, disease, and antisocial behavior of all kinds. A similar enthusiasm girds contemporary social and behavioral genetics, or “sociogenomics.” In fact, every revolution in our understanding of heredity prompts a new wave of enthused hereditarianism: Darwinism, Mendelism, cytogenetics, molecular biology, genomics. With every advance, scientists and the public ask new versions of the same questions: Is homosexuality a choice? Can we identify born criminals and stop crime before it starts? Is genius born or made? Although the questions persist, technology and society are ever evolving. This lecture will examine continuity and change in our enduring impulse to take control of our own evolution; the benefits and risks of our perennial drive to understand, and improve, human nature. For more information go to https://history.nih.gov

NLM Title:	A galaxy of genius? the enduring dream of controlling human heredity / Nathaniel Comfort.
Author:	Comfort, Nathaniel C. National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Office of NIH History.
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): NIH History Office lecture Nathaniel Comfort, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University presents a history lecture, "A Galaxy of Genius? The Enduring Dream of Controlling Human Heredity". -- "What a galaxy of genius might we not create!" burbled Francis Galton in 1865, exuberant about his conception of a voluntary human breeding program, to be informed by Darwinism. Subpar intelligence, he was convinced, lay at the root of poverty, promiscuity, disease, and antisocial behavior of all kinds. A similar enthusiasm girds contemporary social and behavioral genetics, or "sociogenomics." In fact, every revolution in our understanding of heredity prompts a new wave of enthused hereditarianism: Darwinism, Mendelism, cytogenetics, molecular biology, genomics. With every advance, scientists and the public ask new versions of the same questions: Is homosexuality a choice? Can we identify born criminals and stop crime before it starts? Is genius born or made? Although the questions persist, technology and society are ever evolving. This lecture will examine continuity and change in our enduring impulse to take control of our own evolution; the benefits and risks of our perennial drive to understand, and improve, human nature.
Subjects:	Eugenics Evolution, Molecular Heredity Human Genetics Selective Breeding
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast

NLM Classification:	QU 450
NLM ID:	9918299482706676
CIT Live ID:	44029
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44029

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