Throughout history, people have been working in different ways to try and perfect their society. Whether it has been Charles Darwin, who tried to describe the development of animals and plants but ended up getting his theory applied to the evolution of people instead. Or Francis Galton who believed that desired human qualities were hereditary traits. As genetics started to come about in society, eugenics started to rely on that. The idea of genetic determinism in which human character was thought to be attributed to genes was unaffected by education or living conditions.

Three International Eugenics Conferences were held in 1912, 1921 and 1932 and these conferences were where eugenic policies were implemented around the world. Ideals like state- enforced sterilization of criminals and the mentally handicapped, marriage restrictions, segregation, forced abortions and ultimately genocides. One major example of eugenics in the real world is Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army. He used eugenic ideas to ‘better’ his country by classifying people like the developmentally disabled, mentally handicapped, homosexuals, gypsies and Jews as undesirables. He then performed a mass genocide in an attempt to, what he thought would, perfect the nation of Germany and the Aryan race.

The modern day thought of eugenics is to breed and reengineer children into being ‘better’ by giving them different abilities. These ideas of eugenics are not to be confused with the 20th century ideals of eugenics, but they are still causing controversy because it challenges human equality when some can’t afford the technology. Eugenics also leads to a reduction of traits in the gene pool, which can also lead to an increase in diseases and decrease in diversity in a society or population.

Some solutions to battling the controversy of eugenics is to realize all humans are equal. Getting rid of a race of humans or banning them from traveling to your country isn’t going to perfect your race or country. Changing a child’s genetic makeup is unfair to the unborn fetus because they can’t speak out against the doctors or parents performing and requesting the procedure to express their opinion on the matter. Morally it is wrong for humans to tamper with genetic aspects of others to out live human limitations. Humans would no longer see life as meaningful if they are able to defy its limitations with technology.

In a world with ever changing people and technology, people are always trying to gain a higher status in the world. Many have looked to science and other factors to help aid them, but the answer is not within eugenics, as it has lead to genetic discrimination, the violation of human rights and genocides. Humans are equal in all aspects of life, and until we realize that, we can’t move forward as a society.