Dysgenics

Dysgenics (and cacogenics) [] and the fruit fly. [cite journal |author=Kidwell MG |title=Evolution of hybrid dysgenesis determinants in Drosophila melanogaster |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=80 |issue=6 |pages=1655–9 |year=1983 |month=March |pmid=6300863 |pmc=393661 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=6300863 |doi=10.1073/pnas.80.6.1655] [cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0073-47212002000200007&script=sci_arttext&tlng= |title=Gonadal hybrid dysgenesis in "Drosophila Sturtevanti" (Diptera, Drosophilidae) |journal=Iheringia, Sér. Zool.|volume=92 |issue=2 |date=June 2002|doi=10.1590/S0073-47212002000200007 |author= Almeida LM, Carareto CMA] Some 21st century eugenicists have argued that existing social structures, such as industrial warfare, modern medicine, and social welfare, cause dysgenic trends in humans, especially in relation to IQ.

History

As a term, "dysgenics"` first use was as antonym of eugenics — the social philosophy of improving human hereditary qualities via social programs and government intervention. Per the "Oxford English Dictionary", "dysgenic" was first used, as an adjective, around 1915, by David Starr Jordan, describing the "dysgenic effect" of World War I. Starr Jordan believed that fit men were as likely to die in modern warfare as anyone else, and that war killed only the physically fit men of the populace whilst preserving the disabled at home.cite book| last = Jordan| first = David Starr| title = War and the Breed: The Relation of War to the Downfall of Nations| publisher = University Press of the Pacific| date= 2003 (Reprint)| location = Honolulu, Hawaii| id = ISBN 1-4102-0900-8] [cite journal|author=McNish I|title=David Starr Jordan on the Dysgenic effects of dysfunctional culture|journal= Mankind Quarterly|date = Fall 2002|volume=43|issue=1|pages=81–98]

In 1965 Colum Gillfallen speculated in "The Mankind Quarterly" that lead used by Romans in plumbing and cooking utensils poisoned the water and food of the Roman elite, causing the decline of the Roman Empire. [cite journal| author = Gillfallen SC| title = Roman Culture and Dysgenic Lead Poisoning| journal = The Mankind Quarterly| volume = 5| issue = 3| pages = 131–148| date= January–March 1965| id = ISSN 0025-2344 ] Gillfallen's theory was refuted in 1985 by Needleman and Needleman, who showed that measurements of lead from bones of Romans and other peoples provide no evidence that the fertility of the Roman elite was adversely affected.cite journal| author = Needleman L, Needleman D| title = Lead Poisoning and the Decline of the Roman Aristocracy| journal = Classical Views| volume = 4| issue = 1| pages = 63–94| date= 1985| id = ISSN 0012-9356]

William Shockley used the term in his controversial advocacy of eugenics from the mid-1960s through the 1980s. Shockley argued that "the future of the population was threatened because people with low IQs had more children than those with high IQs".cite web| title = William Shockley 1910–1989| work = A Science Odyssey People and Discoveries| publisher = PBS online| date= 1998| url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/btshoc.html| accessdate = 2006-11-13 ] William Shockley, Roger Pearson: "Shockley on Eugenics and Race: The Application of Science to the Solution of Human Problems" Scott-Townsend Publishers, ISBN 978-1878465030]

Robert K. Graham in 1998 argued that genocide and class warfare, in cases ranging from the French Revolution to the present, have had a dysgenic effect through the killing of the more intelligent by the less intelligent, and "might well incline humanity toward a more primitive, more brutish level of evolutionary achievement". [cite journal|author=Graham RK|title=Devolution by revolution: Selective genocide ensuing from the French and Russian revolutions|journal=Mankind Quarterly|date=Fall 1998|volume=39|issue=11|pages=71–93]

Since 1969, a few studies on differential fertility have theorized that it may lead to a decline in population IQ and isolated studies have reported a negative correlation between IQ and fecundity. [] cite journal |author=Vining Drj |title=On the possibility of the reemergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials |journal=Intelligence |volume=6 |issue= |pages=241–64 |year=1982 |pmid=12265416 |doi=10.1016/0160-2896(82)90002-2] cite journal
last = Vining
first = Daniel
date = 1995
title = On the possibility of the reemergence of a dysgenic trend with respect to intelligence in American fertility differentials: an update
journal = Personality and Individual Differences
volume = 19
issue = 2
pages = 259–263
url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9F-3YB56P1-2S&_user=521814&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000059575&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=521814&md5=75ad52e9a7cac14dd14a9acdd31b732d
doi = 10.1016/0191-8869(95)00038-8 ] cite journal |author=Lynn R |title=New evidence for dysgenic fertility for intelligence in the United States |journal=Soc Biol |volume=46 |issue=1-2 |pages=146–53 |year=1999 |pmid=10842506] [cite journal
author=Lynn R, Van Court M
title=New evidence of dysgenic fertility for intelligence in the United States
journal=Intelligence
volume=32
issue=2
pages=193–201
date= 2004
issn=0160-2896
url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ729962&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ729962
doi=10.1016/j.intell.2003.09.002] In 1996, Richard Lynn wrote ""; Lynn had been previously criticized for distorting and misrepresenting data [cite journal
url=http://mysite.du.edu/~psherry/bellcrv.html
author=Leon K
journal=Scientific American
date=February 1995
volume=272
title=The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
quote=Lynn's distortions and misrepresentations of the data constitute a truly venomous racism, combined with scandalous disregard for scientific objectivity.] [] [cite web|url=http://edrev.asu.edu/essays/v10n6.pdf |format=PDF|title=Black Intellectual Genocide: An Essay Review of "IQ of Wealth of Nations|author=Berhanu G|publisher= Gotberg University, Sweden|accessdate=2008-06-28] although others have favorably reviewed Lynn's work on dysgenics.cite journal | last = Hamilton | first = W. D. | authorlink = W. D. Hamilton | title =A review of "Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations" | journal = Annals of Human Genetics | volume = 64 | issue = 4 | pages = 363-374 | date = 2000 | url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showPdf?submitPDF=Full+Text+PDF+%28190+KB%29&doi=10.1046%2Fj.1469-1809.2000.6440363.x | doi = 10.1046/ j.1469-1809.2000.6440363 | accessdate = 2008-05-11 ] [] [] Richard Lynn (along with Daniel R. Vining and William Shockley) is a major recipient of grants from the Pioneer Fund, characterized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),cite web|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=623 |title=Race and 'Reason'; Academic ideas a pillar of racist thought|accessdate=2008-04-15] ]

Flynn effect

The rise in IQ scores since their development provides evidence against dysgenic declines in IQ; this general rising trend is known as the Flynn effect. Geneticist, Steve Connor, wrote that Lynn's 1996 book "misunderstood modern ideas of genetics". "A flaw in his argument of genetic deterioration in intelligence", Jones said in his refutation of the existence of a dysgenic trend, "was the widely accepted fact that intelligence as measured by IQ tests has actually increased over the past 50 years."cite news | last = Connor | first =Steve | title = Stalking the Wild Taboo; Professor predicts genetic decline and fall of man | work =The Sunday Times | date = December 22, 1996 | url = http://www.lrainc.com/swtaboo/late/dysg_sc.html | accessdate = 2008-04-15 ]

If the genes underlying IQ have been shifting, IQ throughout the population should reasonably be expected to shift in the same direction, yet the reverse has occurred. However, genotypic IQ may fall even while phenotypic IQ rises throughout the population due to environmental effects such as better schooling, nutrition and television viewing.cite journal |author=Retherford RD, Sewell WH |title=Intelligence and family size reconsidered |journal=Soc Biol |volume=35 |issue=1-2 |pages=1–40 |year=1988 |pmid=3217809|url=http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/publications/files/public/Retherford-Sewell_Intelligence.Family.S.R.pdf|format=PDF] The Flynn Effect has increased IQ scores as much as 15 points throughout the First World, but some researchers have argued that this trend now shows signs of reversal. [cite journal
author = Teasdale T, Owen DR
date = 2008
title = Secular declines in cognitive test scores: A reversal of the Flynn Effect
journal = Intelligence
volume = 36
issue = 2
url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W4M-4N5KY0G-1&_user=10&_origUdi=B6W4M-4NHD97J-1&_fmt=high&_coverDate=03%2F02%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_orig=article&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c9722daa72247c894c02035be70c1b02 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2007.01.007
pages = 121 ] [cite journal
author = Lynn R, Harvey J
date = 2008
title = The decline of the world's IQ
journal = Intelligence
volume = 36
issue = 2
doi = 10.1016/j.intell.2007.03.004
pages = 112 ]

Dysgenic fallacy

A negative correlation between fertility and IQ has existed in many parts of the world at various times; [ [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1972320 Literacy, Education and Fertility, Past and Present: A Critical Review, Harvey J. Graff] ] it has been argued that this was true of Ancient Rome. While it may seem obvious that differential fertility would result in a progressive change in IQ, Preston and Campbell argue that it is a fallacy that applies only to closed subpopulations. As long as the children's IQ can be higher or lower than that of their parents, an equilibrium is established. Subsequently, the mean IQ will not change, in the absence of a change in the differential fertility. The steady-state IQ distribution will be lower for negative differential fertility and for positive, but these differences are small. For the extreme, and unrealistic assumption, of endogamous mating in IQ subgroups, a differential fertility change of 2.5/1.5 to 1.5/2.5 (high IQ/low IQ), causes a maximum shift of four IQ points. For random mating, the shift is less than one IQ point.cite journal|author=Preston SH, Campbell C | title =Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits: The Case of IQ | journal =The American Journal of Sociology | volume =98 |issue =5 | pages =997–1019 | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | date =March 1993 | url =http://www.jstor.org/pss/2781579 | accessdate = 2008-04-22 |format = fee required|doi=10.1086/230135 ]

James S. Coleman, however, contends that Preston and Campbell's model depends on assumptions which are unlikely to be true, and argues that their dismissal of the "common belief" in the case of IQ is unfounded. [cite journal | author = Coleman JS | date = 1993 | title = Comment on Preston and Campbell's 'Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits' | journal = The American Journal of Sociology | volume = 98 | issue = 5 | pages =1020–1032 | url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/2781580|format=fee required ] [cite journal | author=Lam D| title =Comment on Preston and Campbell's "Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits" | journal =The American Journal of Sociology | volume=98 |issue=5 | pages =1033–1039 | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | date =March 1993 | url =http://www.jstor.org/pss/2781581 | accessdate = 2008-04-22|format=fee required | doi=10.1086/230137|format=fee required]

In fiction

Cyril M. Kornbluth's 1951 short story "The Marching Morons" is an example of dysgenic fiction, describing a man who accidentally ends up in the distant future to find out that dysgenics has resulted in mass stupidity. Mike Judge's 2006 film "Idiocracy" has the same premise, with the main character signing up for a military hibernation experiment that goes awry, taking him 500 years into the future. While in the Kornbluth short story civilization is kept afloat by a small group of dedicated geniuses, their role has been replaced by advanced automated systems in "Idiocracy". [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/business/09online.html |title=Shying away from Degeneracy|work=The New York Times|author=Mitchell, Dan|date=2006-09-09|accessdate=2008-06-29] cite news|author=Sailer S|url=http://www.isteve.com/Film_Idiocracy.htm |title=The Morons Shall Inherit the Earth|work=The American Conservative|date=2006-10-06|accessdate=2008-06-29]

ee also

*Breeder (slang)
*Devolution (biological fallacy)
*Degeneration
*Fertility and intelligence
*Human vestigiality
*Societal collapse
*Social Darwinism

Notes