Thread by @AdamRutherford

#Control is my new book, out today. It’s the story of an eternal human desire, to rule over unruly biology, to control reproduction, and craft people and populations to be fitter, happier, more productive. smarturl.it/RutherfordCont…

#Control is the story of eugenics, and how a pseudoscientific idea was wedded to a political ideology, a fear by the powerful of losing their ill-gotten gains, who latched onto a neonate science, genetics, and bastardised, misrepresented and cheated it to justify their beliefs.

Just like with the invention of race, eugenics was a science in service of politics. An esoteric idea born in the salons and universities of London, Berlin and the USA, but in just a few decades grew to become one of the defining ideas of the 20th Century.

The pathway of eugenics always led to the gates of Auschwitz. And yet, it’s legacies are with us today, in our language - moron, imbecile, idiot - our culture - The Great Gatsby, the Time Machine - and in our politics.

With new understanding of human genetics, and new techniques in prenatal diagnoses and genetic engineering, the same conversations are back, about IQ, about eradicating disease, and race. #Control unpicks each one of these.

btw I think it's my best work. Eugenics has been part of my sphere since I was an idiotic 18 year old in the Galton lab at UCL. I've studied and taught this subject for decades, and this is the result. I'd love to know what you think.

Addendum: lots of people helped a lot, so here is the Acknowledgements page, for those who peer-reviewed, corrected, edited, helped, inspired or made even the slightest contribution to #Control.