Smart people can have really bad ideas – like selectively breeding human beings to improve the species. Put into practice, Galton's concept proved discriminatory, damaging, even deadly.
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Articles on Francis Galton
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The US has a long history of forced sterilization campaigns that were driven by the bogus 'science' of eugenics, racism and sexism.
CRISPR isn't a tool to fix social problems.
After Google suggested PigeonRank was at the root of its search function, a group of researchers put a small flock of the birds to a different classification test in real life.
Research that finds links between genes and intelligence could worsen social inequality.
A short history of research into the links between genes and intelligence.
Despite science refuting the existence of different human races, people have used "race" throughout history to divide and denigrate certain people while promoting their claims of superiority.
The study of human intelligence dates back well over 100 years. And the core disagreement between researchers and theorists is whether differences are genetic or largely influenced by the environment.
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Richard Gunderman is a Friend of The Conversation.
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