The Dark side of Science: The Horror of Eugenics Theory (Short Documentary)

Summary

This documentary explores the dark history and long-lasting impact of the eugenics theory, a scientific idea that was misused to justify some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. Originating from Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton, eugenics sought to improve the human race through selective breeding. However, these ideas quickly turned into actions that led to segregation, genocide, and sterilization laws across the globe, most notably in the United States and Nazi Germany. Despite its harmful applications, modern science still contends with the ethical implications of eugenics, as seen through genetic screening practices today.

Highlights

• Francis Galton, cousin to Charles Darwin, was a key figure in developing the theory of eugenics, combining heredity concepts with evolutionary ideas 🚀.
• Eugenics led to forced sterilization and racial purity laws, impacting societies in the US and Europe in the 20th century ⚖️.
• Nazi Germany took eugenics to horrific extents, linking it with their racial purity agenda under racial hygiene policies 🏴.
• Modern discussions of genetics reflect on eugenics' legacy, especially regarding ethical considerations in genetic screening 🌐.
• The film provokes thought on how science, misunderstood or misapplied, can deeply impact social norms and policies 🧐.

Key Takeaways

• Science can influence society profoundly, sometimes leading to devastating consequences when misapplied 🌍.
• Eugenics, a theory to improve human genes, became a basis for atrocities in the 20th century, affecting policies in the US and Nazi Germany ⚠️.
• Despite its dark past, eugenics ideas still influence modern genetic practices like genetic screening 🧬.
• The documentary highlights how historical misuse of science can highlight dangers in contemporary scientific endeavors 🔍.
• Understanding the past misuse of eugenics can guide ethical considerations in modern science and social policies 💡.

Overview

Eugenics as a concept first took root in the 19th century, spearheaded by Francis Galton, who combined evolutionary theory with hereditary studies. Despite good intentions of improving the human race, this idea spiraled into an ideology that justified atrocities.

As eugenics gained traction, particularly in the United States and Nazi Germany, it was used to propagate racial and social injustices. Forced sterilizations, marriage laws, and eventually, the Holocaust, were horrendous outcomes of this pseudoscience.

Over time, the scientific community distanced itself from these practices, but the questions eugenics posed about heredity continue to echo in discussions about modern genetics. This demands ethical vigilance, highlighting the need to prevent past mistakes from recurring.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction Scientific theories can significantly impact society by shaping beliefs about health, medical practices, or fundamental understandings of the world, such as the shape of the Earth. Whether a theory is well-founded or not, it can still influence people's actions. The chapter introduces a specific theory that profoundly affected the 20th century and was misused to justify horrific atrocities, highlighting the potential dangers of widely accepted, yet flawed ideas.
• 01:30 - 03:30: The Birth of Eugenics The chapter 'The Birth of Eugenics' explores the dark side of scientific theories that have historically justified genocide, segregation, and racially discriminative laws. It discusses how such theories have provided convenient excuses for unacceptable actions by individuals and governments. The narrative also touches on the persistence of these ideas, noting their infiltration into modern society mainly as avenues for misuse under the guise of scientific racism.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Galton's Theories and Influence The chapter delves into the dangerous scientific idea of eugenics, emphasizing its misuse in justifying prejudice and callous behavior. The influence of eugenics spans across the 19th and 20th centuries, earning it a high rating of 9 on the ethical scale, highlighting its controversial and ominous nature in the realm of science.
• 04:30 - 09:30: Eugenics Expansion in the USA This chapter begins by referencing the influential book 'The Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin, published in 1859, which laid the groundwork for evolutionary biology. As evolution gained acceptance, it branched into various disciplines, and numerous scientists pursued further development of Darwin's theories. The introduction hints at one of Darwin's successors who contributed to this expansion.
• 09:30 - 23:00: Nazi Germany and Eugenics The chapter explores the ideas of Francis Galton, who was inspired by his cousin's work on evolution. Fascinated by human variation, Galton studied mental abilities, physical traits like height, facial images, and fingerprint patterns. He merged Darwin’s theory of evolution with heredity concepts, helping to develop early ideas of genetics. His work coincided with Gregor Mendel’s findings in 1865 on the basic laws of inheritance, which laid foundational concepts for the understanding of genes.
• 23:00 - 26:00: Post-War and Modern Eugenics The chapter discusses the discoveries in heredity, particularly how experiments with peas demonstrated that physical traits result from combinations of two units and can be inherited across generations. Galton's work in this field involved trying to determine if defects or attributes were hereditary, necessitating a vast amount of data to correlate characteristics within individuals.
• 26:00 - 27:00: Conclusion In this chapter, the discussion revolves around Galton's 1869 book 'Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences.' Galton explored the concept that successful individuals in certain professions tended to have offspring who were equally successful. He deduced that this pattern suggested a hereditary link to success, implying that successful people often have successful children. This was seen as evidence supporting his theory on hereditary factors influencing eminence.
• 27:00 - 27:09: Credits and Channel Information Francis Galton conducted research on the genetic transmission of human intelligence, demonstrating that the frequency of eminent relatives decreased with more distant relations. His book on the subject was well-received by scientific peers, including his cousin Charles Darwin, but did not capture much interest outside the scientific community. Galton believed that favorable human traits were heritable.

The Dark side of Science: The Horror of Eugenics Theory (Short Documentary) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 scientific theories can have an influence on society be it what is healthy to eat whether some surgeries help or hinder or even whether if the earth is flat the theory does not need to be proven right as even an idea on shaky ground can influence others actions one such theory would probably have one of the largest effects on the 20th century as it would be used as a disgusting excuse for some of the world's worst atrocities
• 00:30 - 01:00 following the scientific theory would lead to genocide segregation and social racial laws that by modern standards leave a disgusting taste in the mouth a convenient excuse to allow unacceptable actions by individuals and governments alike and even in contemporary times the subject filters its way into modern day society it is mostly being used as an open door for misuse scientific racism
• 01:00 - 01:30 and tyranny today we're looking at one of the most dangerous scientific ideas especially when used to prove prejudice and be used as an excuse for callousness the theory is of eugenics and it's a long-reaching effects in the 19th and 20th century as such i'm going to rate this subject here 9 on my ethical scale welcome to the dark side of science
• 01:30 - 02:00 our story starts with a very famous book by a much revered scientist the origin of species by charles darwin the work was released in 1859 and is widely regarded as the foundation of evolutionary biology the new field of research would over the next few decades split into many different disciplines as evolution became more widely accepted many scientists looked to develop darwin's ideas one such person was one of his own
• 02:00 - 02:30 cousins francis galton golton was fascinated by his cousin's work and sought out to research variation in human development he started to look at different aspects of human variation covering anything from mental ability to height and from facial images to fingerprint patterns galton combined darwin's theory of evolution with a concept of heredity to develop his new idea the concept of genes came from gregor mendel's when in 1865 the basic laws of
• 02:30 - 03:00 heredity were discovered experiments with peas showed that each physical trait was a result of a combination of two units and could be passed from one generation to another galton upon discovering the obvious variations across human population wanted to see if defects or attributes are hereditary passed from parent to child for this work a monumental amount of data was needed to be able to correlate any characteristic within individuals
• 03:00 - 03:30 this would lead to his 1869 book hereditary genius an inquiry into its laws and consequences during a research for the book galton looked into who he described as successful men in a given profession he surmised that their sons were more likely to achieve such eminence themselves than if they were not closely related to eminent individuals basically saying that successful people have successful children from this galton theorized that it was evidence
• 03:30 - 04:00 for genetic transmission of human intelligence during his research for the book he showed that the numbers of eminent relatives dropped off when going from first degree to the second degree relatives and from second degree to the third the book gained praise from his peers including his cousin darwin but the work had limited appeal outside of the scientific community he thought that the most desirable traits in humans were transmitted
• 04:00 - 04:30 through heredity and thus thought that selective breeding could achieve improvement of the race where high achieving children being nurtured and given a good education and once old enough encouraged to marry with another high achieving partner he also stated where the better sort of immigrants and refugees from other lands were invited and welcomed and their descendants naturalized as for the lower achieving people he stated that less desirable people could find a welcome and refuge in celibate
• 04:30 - 05:00 monasteries or sisterhoods this would become a theme for later eugenicists next golton looked into finding out if his theory of nature over nurture was true and to do so he envisioned studying twins that have been separated at birth as if raised in different families with different social and economic backgrounds would this affect the intelligence of each sibling he used questionnaires to collect data and published it in an 1875 paper the
• 05:00 - 05:30 history of twins in which he used to test his nature over nurture hypothesis his next book would coin the actual term eugenics although this was his first use of the word as seen in hereditary genius golton had already been developing its main tenets but had yet to name it his book inquiries into human faculty and its development would first use the term eugenics which opened up saying this book's intention is to touch on
• 05:30 - 06:00 various topics more or less connected with that of a cultivation of race or as we might call it eugenic questions and to present the results of several of my own separate investigations he devised a plan that would give marks for a person's preferable family traits and as such that society should reward early marriage between families of high rank via provision of monetary incentives in his book he pointed out the tendency of british high society of late
• 06:00 - 06:30 marriages between eminent people which resulted in less of an average physical size of their children dalton did not suggest any particular selection method but instead hoped that society would naturally favor breeding desirable couples with a help of financial incentives he would flesh out his term definition in his 1908 book memories of my life stating that the official definition of eugenics as the study of agencies under social control that may improve or
• 06:30 - 07:00 impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally the field still focused on selective breeding much like with animals through the means of financial encouragement these ideas did not particularly take off in galton's native uk but they did in other parts of the world most notably in the united states in the early stages of the 20th century but before we look across the pond let's summarize galton's idea it is split into two parts positive and
• 07:00 - 07:30 negative eugenics the former being the promotion of good traits through encouragement of high achieving individuals having children and the latter being discouraging people with undesirable traits such as mental illnesses or any other handicapped from having children this second form of theory would be to claim justification for multiple human rights issues and ultimately genocide now let's look at the propagation of the field in the early 20th century
• 07:30 - 08:00 we'll come back to something i mentioned earlier mendel's law by the late 1800s this theory was largely lost to obscurity however in the 1890s bottomist hugo de virs and carl corenz simultaneously and apparently unaware of each other rediscovered hereditary which in turn independently verified mendel's theory almost 40 years earlier leading to the rediscovery of mendel's
• 08:00 - 08:30 paper in 1900 this brings into the picture william bateson an english biologist inspired by the works of both darwin and galton he set out to further the study of heredity and in 1894 in unawareness of mendel's work released his book materials for the study of variation bateson upon the rediscovery of mendel's work started to popularize the concept of mendelian inheritance even coining the term genetics in the early 1900s
• 08:30 - 09:00 now that was a slight diversion but it does play into eugenics and its importation into the us charles davenport was a prominent biologist in the late 19th century throughout his studies he gained a respect for galton and his theories on encouraging the british elite to reproduce more after the rediscovery and subsequent promotion of mendelian inheritance davenport would seek to put these new discoveries into practice davenport was not the only one to embrace eugenics stanford president
• 09:00 - 09:30 david starr jordan originated a notion of race and blood in his 1902 racial epistle blood of a nation in which the university scholar declared that human qualities and conditions such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood in 1904 davenport became the director of cold spring harbor laboratory from there he began a series of investigations into human mental and personality traits that have been inherited six years after working at
• 09:30 - 10:00 spring harbor davenport started the eugenics record office a research institute that collected biological and social information about the american population serving as a center for eugenics and human hereditary research what was dark about the ero was that family pedigrees were recorded and it provided training for eugenics field workers who were sent to analyze individuals in various institutions such as mental hospitals and orphanage
• 10:00 - 10:30 institutions across the united states essentially making a list of who the ero deemed should be allowed to have children and conversely who should not be allowed to have children the institute had a harry h lachlan as its director we will come back to him in a little bit eugenic legislation began in the usa with indiana becoming the first state to enact sterilization legalization in 1907
• 10:30 - 11:00 followed by california and washington in 1909 davenport would release in 1911 one of his most famous books heredity in relation to eugenic and this writing would be a massive influence on the early 20th century eugenics movement the book posited that many human traits were genetically inherited and that it would therefore be possible to selectively breed people for desirable traits to improve the human race
• 11:00 - 11:30 so much was the success of the book that it was used as a text for medical schools in the early days of the american eugenics movement a number of financial backers sought to support davenport by funding several foundations one such was the race betterment foundation created in 1914 by john harvey kellogg does that name sound familiar well if you've ever been down a cereal aisle of a supermarket then you'll know what i mean and yes it's the same person
• 11:30 - 12:00 the foundation was created from kellogg's fears of what he perceived as race degeneracy davenport also found funding from the carnegie institution rockefeller foundation and the harriman railroad fortune in 1911 the carnegie institution supported a preliminary report of the committee of the eugenic selection of the american breeders association to study and report on the best practical means for cutting off the defective germ
• 12:00 - 12:30 plasm of the human population the report had 18 points and number eight was euthanasia along with the money came political power and many willing ears within american high society at around the same time henry herbert goddard a prominent american psychologist was also working with eugenics-based theories he was one of the first proponents of the iq test and was the first to translate intelligence tests into english goddard was fascinated with intelligence within
• 12:30 - 13:00 the population and pushed for most u.s institutions to incorporate iq testing throughout his career he helped develop the new topic of clinical psychology with positives such as in 1911 helping to write the first u.s law requiring the blind deaf and intellectually disabled children be provided special education within the public school system he also argued that sub-normal intelligence should limit criminal responsibility of defendants
• 13:00 - 13:30 but like many in this video his ideas also had a darker side in 1910 he advocated for labeling of subjects linked to their iq using the terms for those with an iq of 51 to 70 imbecile for those with an iq of 26 to 50 an idiot for those with an iq of 0-25 for categories of increasing impairment these labels would stay in mental health treatment for many years to come and become part of the english lexicon if
• 13:30 - 14:00 you've ever called someone a well this is where it came from he went further advocating for people who fell into his category and below to be segregated from society as to not allow them to have children as part of his intelligence testing program he established exams on ellis island to find in his word feeble-minded immigrants interestingly these tests would only be given to third-class passengers back in london a new eugenics organization was founded in 1912 named
• 14:00 - 14:30 the permanent international eugenics committee it was a continuation of the first international eugenics congress interestingly the first congress was presided over leonard darwin charles darwin's son at the university of london and was a global venue for scientists politicians and social leaders to plan and discuss the application of programs to improve human heredity in the early 20th century in 1921 the committee arranged for a second meeting of the
• 14:30 - 15:00 international eugenics congress to take place at the american museum of natural history in new york this time alexandra graham bell was the honorary president further adding to the famous names to the eugenics list it focused on issues including human heredity race differences regulation of reproduction and eugenics you see eugenics found more fertile ground in the usa there was a fear that non-anglo-saxon people were genetically
• 15:00 - 15:30 inferior and thus watered down the gene pool obviously this is untrue but eugenics was the vehicle in which racist ideologies could travel harry lachlan the director of the eugenics record office had become a pushing force in various eugenics-based legislation throughout the usa in the early 1920s lochlin looked to further the number of states with compulsory sterilization laws as well as increase the numbers of sterilizations amongst the states that had enacted legislation
• 15:30 - 16:00 in lachlan's mind the current laws were poorly written allowing states to employ sterilization with less vigor than he would have liked in a way to improve this stumbling block lochlin drafted a model eugenic sterilization law to help things along better which was published in his 1922 book eugenical sterilization in the united states although i won't read out the full model here locherin included the following conditions that should result
• 16:00 - 16:30 in compulsory sterilization the feebleminded be insane criminals epileptics alcoholics blind persons deaf persons deformed persons and indigent persons by the 1960s lachlan's model was responsible for 64 000 individuals being forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the united states the law will be used as the basis for the law of the prevention of hereditary diseased offspring the 1933 nazi
• 16:30 - 17:00 legislation that would ultimately result in people being sterilized against their will but lachlan's exploits didn't just end with sterilization laws he was also used for extensive statistical testimony to the united states congress in support of the johnson reed immigration act of 1924 this law limited immigration to the united states from asia and set quotas on a number of immigrants from the
• 17:00 - 17:30 eastern hemisphere internally in the u.s a number of states also brought in eugenics-inspired marriage laws forbidding weddings between people of different races such as virginia's racial integrity act of 1924. after the 1921 eugenics congress the permanent international eugenics committee was retitled in 1925 to international federation of eugenics organizations bringing in future nazi eugene fisher
• 17:30 - 18:00 and this is where our story takes a turn into scientific racism davenport in 1922 attempted to prove the dangers of interracial relationships with his race crossing in jamaica the book gained wide ridicule as the conclusions within stretch far beyond the data provided and in some cases even contradicted it the eugenics movement in the u.s would peak in the 1930s with policies of both
• 18:00 - 18:30 positive and negative eugenic implementations with fitter families contests awarding medals eugenically sound families more states implementing sterilization laws and other popular eugenic advertisements being commonplace a disproportionately higher number of women of african and native american backgrounds were forcibly sterilized under the laws written with lachlan's model scarily who was seen as genetically inferior was down to the flawed and racist thinking that non-whites had a higher chance of
• 18:30 - 19:00 bearing children with mental and physical defects women in general were targeted with more of these laws resulting in roughly 61 percent of all eugenic sterilizations being performed on women so much so was the influence of the us eugenics movement that the methods for eugenics based discrimination would be imported back to europe and a new hateful political ideology building up in germany
• 19:00 - 19:30 much like the rest of europe in the early 20th century eugenics was deemed by many german scientists as a legitimate study the eugenics programmes followed very closely the lead of the us and once a nazis got into power in 1933 the discrimination went into overtime german eugenics was split between two types of thinking the more moderate wilhelm chalmer who rejected the race element in the field but his version of the study would be by the 1930s be
• 19:30 - 20:00 drowned out by alfred palette and his more racist view of eugenics he was a proponent of the cruel racial hygiene movement which he published in his 1895 book racial hygiene basics in 1933 he was put on to the expert advisory committee for population and racial policy this was tasked to advise the nazi party on how to best implement eugenic and racial hygiene policies
• 20:00 - 20:30 and this brings us back to lachlan's model of compulsory sterilization and its implementation in the law for the prevention of hereditarily diseased offspring this would put alleged cases of heredity illness up in front of a genetic health court hitler in private expressed his interest in pushing the program towards euthanasia but stopped short of implementing it during peacetime but as germany started rearming and setting its sights on war
• 20:30 - 21:00 the policy would be brought in in 1939 a trial case of euthanasia was used in the murder of five-month-old gerhard hirschman who was blind as well as having physical and developmental difficulties the murder was undertaken by carl bantz one of hitler's personal physicians three weeks after gerhard's murder the reich committee for the scientific registering of heredity and congenital illnesses was created to register sick
• 21:00 - 21:30 or newborns identified as defective in october 1939 adolf hitler signed the euthanasia note back dated to the 1st of september 1939 which authorized his physician carl band and reichstellof beulah to begin the euthanasia program which post-war would be called action t4 germany had taken negative eugenics to a whole new level seeing darwinism as justification for the demand for
• 21:30 - 22:00 beneficial genes and the eradication of the harmful ones a number of physicians were authorised to decide which patients under their care would be deemed incurably sick and then euthanize the victim the list of conditions acceptable for murder included but wasn't limited to schizophrenia epilepsy huntington's chora advanced syphilis senile dementia paralysis and terminal neurological conditions generally between 1939 and
• 22:00 - 22:30 the fall of the nazi regime in 1945 an estimated 300 000 people were murdered throughout germany occupy poland austria and the protectorate of bohemia and moravia this number included infant children women and men various execution methods were experimented with from lethal injection administered by a medical practitioner to the first implementation of poisonous gas for large groups of victims
• 22:30 - 23:00 the first such instance in january 1940 was at the brandenburg euthanasia center so much so when a nazis impressed with the use of gas and extermination activities during the action t4 program but it was expanded to an industrial scale for the holocaust as the war in europe ended with allied victory the realities of the eugenics-based racial and social discrimination became public knowledge in the u.s and uk the doctors nuremberg trials and the euthanasia
• 23:00 - 23:30 trials highlighted the terrifying outcome of eugenic ideas and thus the field fell out of favor in the wake of the horrors of nazi germany formalized policies of medical ethics and the 1950s unesco statement on race came into force several eugenic societies would back their definitions from the field although four sterilizations would continue into the 1960s with it peaking in the 1950s
• 23:30 - 24:00 eugenesis pushed more towards federal funded birth control measures after the invention of the pill for their deemed undesirable groups such as ethnic minorities and the poor but the field couldn't shake off its links to the nazis and as such many societies hemorrhage members in 1959 a special meeting of britain's eugenics society discussed ways to stop losses in membership including the suggestion that the
• 24:00 - 24:30 society should pursue eugenic ends by less obvious means by the policy of cryptoeugenics which was apparently proving successful with the u.s eugenics society many eugenicists went underground pursuing other careers with many new fields of study being influenced by eugenics prominent eugenicist paul poppinol founded marriage counselling during the 1950s he grew the subject from his eugenic
• 24:30 - 25:00 interest in promoting healthy marriages between fit couples much of the eugenics-based policies were overruled during the civil rights movement thankfully eradicating the racist and ableist abuse imposed by the government however as time has moved on some eugenic ideas have become possible but instead of coercion and abuse modern science has allowed isolation of certain genes this of course is through genetic screening and although controversial it
• 25:00 - 25:30 bypasses the horrors of negative eugenics there are still many modern proponents of eugenics-backed societies one such was the genius sperm bank which ran between 1980 and 99 created by robert clark graham this bank was responsible for around 230 children conceived was spurned from high achieving donors of which some were nobel prize winners but more than anything else the field of eugenics produced some of the darkest outcomes of
• 25:30 - 26:00 the 20th century these ideas helped create division within societies become the justification for genocide and led many away from compassion which should be the mark of a successful society i wonder if darwin could have ever envisioned the horrors that had taken inspiration from his work when he took those long strolls around the grounds of down house i know this has been a very dark and sad as well as a long video but i've only just scratched the surface
• 26:00 - 26:30 this video is a plain different production all videos on the channel are creative commons attribution share like licensed plainly for videos are produced by me john in a currently sunny south eastern corner of london uk help channel grow by liking commenting and subscribing check out my twitter for all sorts of words and sods as well as hints on future videos i've also got patreon and youtube membership as well so check them out if you fancy supporting the channel financially and i was left to say is thank you for
• 26:30 - 27:00 watching