Icarus : $b or, The future of scienceRussell, Bertrand
Philosophy
Icarus : $b or, The future of science
Russell, Bertrand
Civilization; Science; Science and state
Eugenics has, of course, more ambitious possibilities in a more
distant future. It may aim not only at eliminating undesired types,
but at increasing desired types. Moral standards may alter so as to
make it possible for one man to be the sire of a vast progeny by
many different mothers. When men of science envisage a possibility
of this kind, they are prone to a type of fallacy which is common
also in other directions. They imagine that a reform inaugurated by
men of science would be administered as men of science would wish,
by men similar in outlook to those who have advocated it. In like
manner women who advocated votes for women used to imagine that the
woman voter of the future would resemble the ardent feminist who won
her the vote; and socialist leaders imagine that a socialist State
would be administered by idealistic reformers like themselves. These
are, of course, delusions; a reform, once achieved, is handed over
to the average citizen. So, if eugenics reached the point where it
could increase desired types, it would not be the types desired by
present-day eugenists that would be increased, but rather the types
desired by the average official. Prime Ministers, Bishops, and others
whom the State considers desirable might become the fathers of half the
next generation. Whether this would be an improvement it is not for me
to say, as I have no hope of ever becoming either a Bishop or a Prime
Minister.
If we knew enough about heredity to determine, within limits, what
sort of population we would have, the matter would of course be in the
hands of State officials, presumably elderly medical men. Whether they
would really be preferable to Nature I do not feel sure. I suspect that
they would breed a subservient population, convenient to rulers but
incapable of initiative. However, it may be that I am too sceptical of
the wisdom of officials.
The effects of psychology on practical life may in time become very
great. Already advertisers in America employ eminent psychologists
to instruct them in the technique of producing irrational belief;
such men may, when they have grown more proficient, be very useful in
persuading the democracy that governments are wise and good. Then,
again, there are the psychological tests of intelligence, as applied
to recruits for the American army during the war. I am very sceptical
of the possibility of testing anything except average intelligence
by such methods, and I think that, if they were widely adopted, they
would probably lead to many persons of great artistic capacity being
classified as morons. The same thing would have happened to some
first-rate mathematicians. Specialized ability not infrequently goes
with general disability, but this would not be shown by the kind of
tests which psychologists recommended to the American government.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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