James Watson Saw the True Form of DNA. Then It Blinded Him.(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
James Watson Saw the True Form of DNA. Then It Blinded Him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/opinion/james-watson-dna.html
11 comments
https://archive.is/BGX54
#1 argument against anyone advocating Eugenics: Its centuries of well-documented piss-poor performance in European nobility.
> If you think there is one single fundamental essence that makes you you more than anything else, you’re at risk.
Pretty bad take right at the end. We're supposed to be ashamed of biological strengths? I have red hair and take pain very well[1], but I cannot speak to that being a strength in life because it's wrong to do so? There are other non-extreme examples of biological differences being strengths but that example alone dissolves the flippant conclusion.
[1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-f...
Pretty bad take right at the end. We're supposed to be ashamed of biological strengths? I have red hair and take pain very well[1], but I cannot speak to that being a strength in life because it's wrong to do so? There are other non-extreme examples of biological differences being strengths but that example alone dissolves the flippant conclusion.
[1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-f...
> We're supposed to be ashamed of biological strengths?
No, you misread the sentence.
They put two "you"s in it because your red hair and pain tolerance do not make you "you" any more than your daily decisions about how to live your life. It's got nothing to do with "better" or "stronger".
No, you misread the sentence.
They put two "you"s in it because your red hair and pain tolerance do not make you "you" any more than your daily decisions about how to live your life. It's got nothing to do with "better" or "stronger".
> If you think there is one single fundamental essence that makes you you more than anything else
You mentioned two things. Also you never claimed you were "more" than everything else. Just that you were better at two things than some people.
You mentioned two things. Also you never claimed you were "more" than everything else. Just that you were better at two things than some people.
?
Their argument is that, when you try to make value judgements on human life using some mystical single element, you are failing at the first hurdle. Just like MLK said, judge men based on the content of their character, not on the basis of their skin.
You construed that as "Be ashamed of your biological strengths." Just kinda weird.
You construed that as "Be ashamed of your biological strengths." Just kinda weird.
We must be reading different concluding sentences.