Insanity is scientists doing the same experiments over and over again and expecting different results

Jun 18, 2021 by

Are some scientists repeating the failures and missteps of the 1920s and 30s?

Yesterday, I fell into a hole, again.

Since I began studying the history of eugenics in 2014, I have fallen into this metaphorical hole many times. The journey starts on the surface: I have a clear destination, a route and the time in which I will cover it. En route, I find a place which was not on my map (nor on topic), but it is fascinating and I am lured off course. My timetable is forgotten as I wander further into the dark labyrinth of the place I have stumbled upon.

Yesterday, it began when I read and researched “The Sterilization Proposals: A History of their Development” by C.P. Blacker in the Eugenics Review, January 1931. In the paper I saw the name Dr R.A. Gibbons who had been influential in the Eugenics Society. When I searched for “Dr R.A. Gibbons Eugenics,” the search engine focused on the last two words and I saw this paper at the top of the results: “Beyond Eugenics: The forgotten scandal of hybridizing humans and apes”.

Humans and apes?

Surely not! …but this was a paper on an academic website, so I clicked the link and read in Alexander Etkind’s abstract:

Read here

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