Most Helpful Customer Reviews
62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most Credible Endorsement of Eugenics, October 31, 2001
This review is from: Eugenics: A Reassessment (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence) (Hardcover)
Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, brings eminent scientific credibility to an obviously controversial subject. In recent years, perhaps only J. Philippe Rushton has with equal candor applied such crisply sensible logic to the social implications of genetic factors. In highly civilized and democratized countries, genetic quality declines as people of less intelligence have more children and cause more problems than brighter and abler people. That is essentialy indisputable statistically; the problem is what to do about it. Lynn discusses the relative feasibilities of alternative solutions: education, incentives for abler people to have more children and the less able fewer, trying to discourage reproduction among the more indigent and indolent. Past efforts at forced sterilization are addressed. Lynn discusses the modern Singapore program that tax-incentivizes better educated women to bear more children. Regarding efforts to lessen genetic diseases through eugenics, Lynn shows that people with these diseases fill one-fourth of hospital beds. He also points out that psychopaths constitute about 60 percent of prison inmates, so working to eliminate the genes causing this behavior seems prudent and even necessary. Also, low intelligence correlates with illegitimacy, crime and unemployment. It's clear that eugenics can raise average IQ by embryo selection. While currently distasteful in an egalitarian society such as the US, using eugenics to produce the competitive advantage of a populace of higher IQ is a social benefit that will not be lost on a country such as China, opines Prof. Lynn, a boost to average IQ of 115 being reachable. This can be done by selecting the superior embryo from a large number of each woman's eggs fertilized in vitro. Lynn feels that China, for example, will use this kind of method to produce a superior populace in which genetic disease and psychopathy are eliminated. Timeframe? Lynn estimates ten years in China to implement these methods. Then, in 20 years, China will have a generation of embryo-selected, superior people. Another 20 will result in half the employed population as high-intelligence, genetically superior people. And what about the US? Lynn foresees continued genetic decline as, in the US's non-authoritarian milieu, the less able continue to out-reproduce the more able. In the meantime China, with racial homogeneity and physical and mental superiority, dominates the planet. (J. Philippe Rushton, in his Race, Evolution and Behavior, had already reported East Asian IQs at 106, with Whites at 100.) With my Ph.D. in linguistics/psychology (Georgetown Univ.) and teaching in several universities, I've enough background to think that Lynn's findings and opinions make very credible scientific sense. Whether you agree or not, you will find his book to be exceptionally well researched, thought-out and organized -- though not inexpensive.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking, changed my worldview, May 5, 2006
This review is from: Eugenics: A Reassessment (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence) (Hardcover)
Now this is a great book. Lynn addresses dysgenic trends that are going on in the world today. It's not really a question of what to do if dysgenics begins to manifest itself--as shown by the negative correlation between fertility and IQ, to name one gloomy piece of evidence, it has already begun. Mankind has begun to distort its evolution, and this will not be without consequences. Read the book to find out what's the deal.
Highly readable by the way--unlike some of Lynn's other works which were packed with data and citations that were arduous to sift through, I thought reading this was a pleasure. I finished it very quickly due to its fascinating content and implications. The gist is that the Nazis gave eugenics a bad name, and Lynn is here to clear that up. Like most people, I guess I would have flinched at the word eugenics a while ago, sort of a natural response to a "dirty" word these days. After having read the book and pursuing the subject further, I can safely say I'm really passionate about it and hope to continue looking into it in my future.
It's tough to address the issues raised in this book as just one person, but I suppose it begins with awareness and spreading it. Contrary to popular opinion of eugenics, Lynn does not in the book advocate mass genocides, cleansings or such and such as a means for eugenics. Rather it's a matter of structuring incentives and disincentives properly to avoid dysgenic situations. I've seen it said that the modern terms of "medical/human genetics" are simply euphemisms for their core that is eugenics. Best to have some knowledge of evolution and statistics upon reading this book. Psychology and psychometrics are also relevant subjects here. But a decent understanding of natural selection should be okay.
I'm glad to support this book with 5 stars because I think it deserves them. Lynn's best work for sure, IMO. I placed it on my Amazon list of 5 favorite books as well. It was certainly one of the most influential, right up there with Atlas Shrugged. This book should have more solid reviews and recognition.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brave book, December 17, 2006
This review is from: Eugenics: A Reassessment (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence) (Hardcover)
Social science and public policy have yet to come to terms with the discovery that traits such as IQ and the big five dimensions of personality are highly heritable. So far the discussion has come primarily from scholars associated with the political right, in books such as The Bell Curve, by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, and in the work of Richard Lynn, who in this book presents the view that a humane eugenic policy would be an effective way to mitigate many social problems.
The fact that the discussion has come only from the right is something of a puzzle. The heritability of IQ and personality strengthens the traditional leftist case for policies mitigating the lottery of birth. Currently, public education is considered a sufficient policy intervention for providing all citizens the opportunity to achieve a life with dignity. Nevertheless, someone with a genetic endowment of low IQ cannot possibly benefit much from public education--something more is clearly required. But discussion from the left has yet to begin. That Richard Lynn is one of the first to propose policies based on the heritability of IQ and personality is in part due to the fact that he is a brave man, willing to write about a topic that is still so very difficult to raise in a classroom or scholarly discourse.
The main thesis of the book is that Francis Galton's view of eugenics is still relevant, that a system of incentives would spur the more intelligent and civil among us to have more offspring, and the less intelligent and less civil to have fewer. An important part of the book is the discussion of how the Holocaust was not based on eugenic considerations, but was the genocide of a people that the Nazis considered to be extremely able and therefore dangerous. This is important since so many people associate eugenics with the horrors of the Holocaust.
This book is an excellent book, in my opinion Lynn's best--even better than his 1996 Dysgenics. There are only two things that dampen my enthusiasm about the book. One is the price, which is much too high for a book that should be widely read. The second is an issue that I have with all of Lynn's oeuvre, as well as the work of Charles Murray. That is that there is too much attention given to racial differences in intelligence. It's clear that Lynn is simply motivated by his eagerness to illuminate a truth obscured by political correctness, but the end result is to limit his readership, and to reinforce the popular association of eugenics with racism.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
