Chapter 21 human miscalculation

In the 1920s, the United States sterilized the so-called imbecile people. In his book "The Miscalculation of Man", Gould, a historian of science at Harvard University, mentioned a sad and tragic story: In the 1920s, there was a girl named Doris in the United States. She was judged to be mentally retarded, and according to the law of Virginia at that time, she was forced to have her fallopian tubes ligated and not allowed to have children.The relevant personnel lied to her that the surgery was due to ruptured appendicitis. Later, Doris got married, and both she and her husband hoped to have a child, but after several years of failure, she went to consult an obstetrician, who did not know that her fallopian tubes had been ruthlessly destroyed, let alone Know that she is mentally handicapped.In fact, Doris as an adult is not a mentally retarded person like ordinary people.When Doris finally knew the real reason for her lifelong regret, she said: I broke down and cried loudly, my husband and I were desperate to have children, we were mad at those people, I never Knowing that they played tricks on me.

They are referring to Goddard and his fellow travelers who were active in American academic circles in the 1920s and 1930s. Goddard, with his false investigation report, proved that imbecility follows Mendel's genetic law, and advocated Virginia is one of the many places where the power of the government is used to prevent the imbecile from reproducing in the United States and has put his idea into practice.Although Goddard later admitted that he was not quite right, Doris was only one of many tragedies that had been caused. Human beings have been making the same mistakes. Some scientists in the 19th century used the size and shape of a person's head to judge his intelligence and whether he had criminal tendencies; To judge the low-energy people in society and the inferior nations in the world.

Only later generations will know how some scientists today are using their arrogance and prejudice to make self-righteous judgments that will anger future generations.