Galtonian eugenics was wrong because it was based on faulty science and carried out by coercion. But Galton’s goal, to breed the barbarism out of humanity, was not despicable. The new eugenics, by contrast, is based on a relatively sound (if still largely incomplete) science, and it is not coercive; it might be called “laissez-faire” eugenics, because decisions about the genetic endowment of children would be left up to their parents. Indeed, the only coercive policy that has been contemplated is the one in which the state outlaws these technologies, thereby enforcing the natural genetic
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