Brave New World

The Paleo-Future blog has a 1967 clip of Walter Cronkite interviewing biologist James Bonner who describes a modest proposal for eugenics. Somehow, I think the chances of implementing the proposal are slim, let alone whether it would actually work in practice.

But it does raise the question of whether examples of "unconscious" eugenics have occurred in the past. There’s a rather intriguing new theory from Gregory Clark, professor of economics at the University of California at Davis. His theory posits that the enabler of the Industrial Revolution in Britain was not changes in institutions, but changes in human behaviour, powered by the sons of the wealthy, who outbred the poor. The theory is documented in his book A Farewell to Alms, and links to reviews can be found here. Needless to say, it’s controversial.

Professor Clark, who is an engaging speaker, outlined his theory at the recent Beyond Belief: Enlightenment 2.0 conference. His presentation starts about 1 hour 38 minutes into the video of the afternoon sessions on day 1.

His presentation is followed by another good one, this time delivered by Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English and Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She describes herself as "a postmodern free-market quantitative rhetorical Episcopalian feminist Aristotelian woman who was once a man."