Why would you want to prevent "designer babies, human clones, a genetic aristocracy?"

Try this experiment: Stand just beside a Ponderosa all-you-can-eat buffet, and take a look at the people that walk in the front door.

Right there you have probably one of the most convincing arguments possible indicating the importance and the value of modern eugenics. Humanity has a heck of a lot of room for improvement.

Don't let this book's kind of backwards knee-jerk reaction stop us from living up to our own potential.

For the same reason that it is dangerous to incorporate genetic engineering in our agricultural systems, it is an enormous risk to bring genetic engineering into the make up of the human species. The ecosystem is not insensitive to our interferences. Every human contribution has a dramatic effect on all living organisms and on the natural functionings of this world. When we carelessly experiment with genetics, we affect the entire living planet in ways that are irretrievable and often unforseeable. I think it is very important that the eugenic movement be publicly exposed and addressed to the degree that all of humanity may understand and make informed decisions based on the science and the ethics behind interfering with the genetic progress of any species, be it plant or animal.
I have only just begun to research eugenics and am shocked at and afraid of what i have been learning. Some friends and I have come together to discuss bioethics and are hoping to start a thinktank to research and publish issues of bioethics, to expose the connections between and actions of modern technology, science and politics. If you are in santa cruz i would love to meet with you and discuss your work. Please contact me if you are interested: mpebenit (at) ucsc.edu. I'm sorry I missed the opportunity to come see you in capitola.
And, for my chance at a free t-shirt... I would like to know what your ideas are on halting the eugenics movement. With such deep roots and so much political and capital power, it is an intimidating opponent. Their reasoning, though atrociously backwards, is undeniably developed and manipulative.