eugenics

do you support eugenics
i think it could be good

this is my idea for an ideal system of eugenics

no one would be forced to not have a child, even if they had 'bad' genes
but they would be taxed according to how much of a burden the child is likely to have on the economy

for example if because of the genes of the parents
the child has a 30% of getting disease x
and disease x costs 100 labor credits (lol) to cure
then there is a tax of 30 labor credits for them to have the child

and there would be taxes for other diseases and defects calculated in a similar way

and if the parents had 'good' genes
that would make the child likely to contribute to the economy
such as if the child would be more likely to be intelligent or something
(i don't know if intelligence can be predicted from genes, i'm just giving an example)
they would be subsidied for having that child
based on a similar kind of calculation


the benefits of this system would be
'bad' genes would be discouraged
'good' genes would be encouraged

it would be more gradual than plain eugenics (forbidding people to reproduce)
so it would be easier to detect unintended consequences early

it would fund health care
at least to cure the diseases that can be predicted by genetics
because money is being raised when the person that could have the disease is born
so he/she won't have to pay

also it seems the most fair way
because it's not really someone's fault if they were born likely to have a disease
so it's not fair to them to make them pay
and for other systems of free health care
the economic burden falls on everyone
while in this case it falls on the people whose fault it really is, the parents of the child

there are medical problems that have nothing to do with genetics of course
like damage from car crashes and stuff
which i think should still be free
and the burden of that would fall on everyone still

this idea has flaws such as

i don't think it's currently possible to predict very many things based on genes
technology and research will have to be more advanced for this to work well

it's possible that people will have children illegally or something
without the state knowing
i don't know how common it is for people to have more than one child in china

this idea is based on 'pigovian taxation'
i just applied it to eugenics
discuss

Watermelon wrote:

Spoiler:

In summary, you're proposing we cut down on the poor population and make the freedom to legally have children, regardless of who you are, a luxury of the rich (or occasionally the middle class, depending on the severity of the possible disease)? I am not a fan or this idea.

i think this should be used when socialism is already established
so the wealth would be basically evenly distributed
so having children wouldn't be a privilege of 'the rich' because such a thing wouldn't exist

but even if this were used in capitalism
i don't think it would be that bad
yes it would be harder to afford for poor people
but then if their children got a disease, it would be hard for them to afford anyway
this is just moving the time when they have to pay from when they get the disease to when the child is born
so if it does discourage poor people from having children, it probably saves them money in the long run

at first glance eugenics is either awesome or disgusting, personally i don't see it working from both ends. the list of people not aloud to reproduce would eventually get so huge humanity would die out, or it would be so heavily opposed that the eugenics movement would die out.

I think this idea has got something but its not really pratical. And you really need tight rules for the tax and you need to be sure, which in most times you can't be. It is kind of fair, because those with really bad gene's could be a burden for the economy later on etc. but it really sounds kind of in-humane, discouraging people from getting children with bad genes because the economy can't make money of them. But I guess capitalism is all about that .

Watermelon wrote:

do you support eugenics
i think it could be good

this is my idea for an ideal system of eugenics

no one would be forced to not have a child, even if they had 'bad' genes
but they would be taxed according to how much of a burden the child is likely to have on the economy

for example if because of the genes of the parents
the child has a 30% of getting disease x
and disease x costs 100 labor credits (lol) to cure
then there is a tax of 30 labor credits for them to have the child

and there would be taxes for other diseases and defects calculated in a similar way

and if the parents had 'good' genes
that would make the child likely to contribute to the economy
such as if the child would be more likely to be intelligent or something
(i don't know if intelligence can be predicted from genes, i'm just giving an example)
they would be subsidied for having that child
based on a similar kind of calculation


the benefits of this system would be
'bad' genes would be discouraged
'good' genes would be encouraged

it would be more gradual than plain eugenics (forbidding people to reproduce)
so it would be easier to detect unintended consequences early

it would fund health care
at least to cure the diseases that can be predicted by genetics
because money is being raised when the person that could have the disease is born
so he/she won't have to pay

also it seems the most fair way
because it's not really someone's fault if they were born likely to have a disease
so it's not fair to them to make them pay
and for other systems of free health care
the economic burden falls on everyone
while in this case it falls on the people whose fault it really is, the parents of the child

there are medical problems that have nothing to do with genetics of course
like damage from car crashes and stuff
which i think should still be free
and the burden of that would fall on everyone still

this idea has flaws such as

i don't think it's currently possible to predict very many things based on genes
technology and research will have to be more advanced for this to work well

it's possible that people will have children illegally or something
without the state knowing
i don't know how common it is for people to have more than one child in china

this idea is based on 'pigovian taxation'
i just applied it to eugenics
discuss

Usually you cant cure the disease. I assume you are talking about some diseases the children are born with. Dont you?

@liche
people wouldn't be not allowed to reproduce
there would just be a tax for people with bad genes
and the list would get smaller, not bigger
because the bad genes would die out gradually

@marnix
i agree it's not currently practical
it's possible it could be in the future though
and i don't care about being 'humane'

@kenzu
yes