A Galaxy of Genius?

"What a galaxy of genius might we not create!"

• —Francis Galton, 1865

"What a galaxy of genius might we not create!" burbled Francis Galton in 1865, exuberant about his conception of a voluntary human breeding program, to be informed by Darwinism.  Subpar intelligence, he was convinced, lay at the root of poverty, promiscuity, disease, and antisocial behavior of all kinds.  A similar enthusiasm girds contemporary social and behavioral genetics, or "sociogenomics."  In fact, every revolution in our understanding of heredity prompts a new wave of enthused hereditarianism: Darwinism, Mendelism, cytogenetics, molecular biology, genomics.  With every advance, scientists and the public ask new versions of the same questions, such as: Can we identify born criminals and stop crime before it starts? and, Is genius born or made?  Although the questions persist, technology and society are ever evolving.  This lecture will examine continuity and change in our enduring impulse to take control of our own evolution, as well as the benefits and risks of our perennial drive to understand, and improve, human nature.

Link now to https://videocast.nih.gov/ical.ics?live=44029 to add this to your Outlook calendar.  

This event is sponsored by the Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum.  Our office advances the historical understanding of the biomedical research conducted at the NIH by documenting, preserving, and interpreting the history of significant NIH achievements, scientists, and policies.  Visit us at https://history.nih.gov.    
  

Flier: Lecture Series_N_Comfort_sm.pdf (PDF – 3.13 MB)

Date/Time: October 28, 2021/12:00-1:00PM 

Videocast link: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44029