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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Following random threads I came upon this quote:

“Some people truly are genetically blessed. [Cindy] Crawford [has] a reported IQ of 154…”

So… why does something like this pass by without a flutter, but Sydney Sweeney’s “good jeans” set the internet on fire?

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Michael Penn
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

As per NPR, this.

Excerpt:

>> What's the big deal? The company's creative choices have prompted some to say the ad campaign promotes eugenics, a discredited scientific theory popular among white supremacists that the human race could be improved by breeding out less desirable traits. Others are saying the uproar is the culture's response from a society hellbent on sexualizing women. <<


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Peter Martin
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply


 QUOTE:
So… why does something like this pass by without a flutter, but Sydney Sweeney’s “good jeans” set the internet on fire?

One is an major ad campaign in 2025 for an international retailer boasting the good jeans/genes of someone based on their appearance.

One is a random thread on the internet.


Edited by Peter Martin on 07 September 2025 at 3:13pm
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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Yes, but no one in the thread reacted to it.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Eugenics has only been “discredited” when used on humans. Then it becomes “immoral”—which is mostly how it is applied.

But you’ve never eaten a hamburger or a pork chop that didn’t spring from genetic manipulation.

Heck, your dog came from eugenics. A lot of it!

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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Eugenics is specifically about using selective breeding to “improve” humans.

And even selective breeding for dogs has ethical problems. The breathing and other health issues that have been bred into pugs, for example. 


Edited by Michael Roberts on 07 September 2025 at 5:05pm
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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

They may not use the word when it comes to animals, but the principle is the same—and farmers worldwide have been doing it since long before they properly understood the concept.
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Steve Coates
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Michael,

Using your definition, all humans are a product of eugenics.

I am sure dog breeders were not selecting health issues to be inheritable, rather health issues are a non-selective product.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

… all humans are a product of eugenics.

•••

If only a fraction of that much thought went into human breeding.

(No, I am not endorsing eugenics. Just common sense.)

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Evan S. Kurtz
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

It’s not something I see a lot in discussions, perhaps because it’s a rather grim observation, but it troubles me to consider that every human living today almost certainly has multiple instances of ancestors who were conceived through violence. I don’t like what that says about us as the dominant species on the planet.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Technologically dominant. Drop us in the middle of the jungle, and see how well we do. Even armed!
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Evan S. Kurtz
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Posted: 07 September 2025 at 10:30pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

I see your point and agree that any species in a "fish out of water" scenario would struggle. But I don't even think it's a matter of "technological dominance" - it's our capacity for innovation. You're right, if we dropped a group of people in the middle of the jungle, it would be a struggle for survival - but survival isn't out of the question, particularly depending on the people.  

I've always been fascinated by this Steve Jobs quote on the topic:

"I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we're tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation . . . But then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And . . . a human on a bicycle blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts." 
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