Emily Klancher Merchant, PhD, author of "Breeding for IQ" in the Los Angeles Review of Books, talks about how "intelligence—not race—has always been at the center of American eugenics." She cautions that "eugenics does not work by breeding smarter humans;" no technology has been shown to do this but the widespread, American belief that intelligence is primarily genetic is allowing governments to shirk responsibility for ameliorating social inequality and promote projects that favor those who are already priviliged.

Full episode transcript at: https://www.geneticfrontiers.org/transcript-ep-15

GUEST BIO

Emily Klancher Merchant, PhD, is a historian of science, technology, and medicine, focusing on the human sciences in the United States since World War I. She is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of California at Davis.

RESOURCES

• https://www.emilyklancher.com/

• Emily Klancher Merchant. Building the Population Bomb. Oxford University Press. 2021.

• Emily R. Klancher Merchant. "Breeding for IQ." Los Angeles Review of Books. August 22, 2024.

• Elizabeth Catte. Pure America. Arcadia Publishing. 2021.

• Molly Ladd-Taylor. Fixing the Poor. John Hopkins University Press. 2020.

Nathaniel Comfort, PhD, author of The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine and a forthcoming biography on James Watson, talks about medical genetics and eugenics as "two sides of the same coin," and cautions that there is no simple, bright line between the two pursuits.

KEY TOPICS

• Reading from The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine by Nathaniel Comfort, PhD
• How should clinicians and prospective parents think about the argument that there is no bright line between genetic interventions to relieve suffering v. human engineering or population improvement?
• What are the contingent problems created between distinguishing between genetic interventions for a fatal disease v. a non-fatal disease?
• How did the end of World War II and the dropping of the atomic bombs rejuvenate Americans' interest in science and genetic disease?
• How do we talk about genetics today in a way that embraces the actual complexity of the science?
• In the current moment of sea change, what is the cultural authority of science in the United States?
• Discussion of Dr. Comfort's new biography of James Watson, his enormous contributions to the field of human genetics and also his downfall.

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In this open and vulnerable conversation, host Susanna Smith talks with Tiffany Graham Charkosky, author of Living Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy, about their shared experiences of living with genetic risks, in Tiffany's case Lynch syndrome and in Susanna's case CADASIL. They chat about the unique psychological state of living for decades as a healthy person who is also at risk of a serious disease, their feelings of guilt, responsibility, and shame, and the spaciousness that can be found in contemplating your own death.

Resources

Tiffany Graham Charkosky. Living Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy. Little A Publishing. 2025.

Tiffany Graham Charkosky. Why I'm Participating in a Cancer Vaccine Trial. Oprahdaily.com. Sept. 29, 2025.

https://tiffanygrahamcharkosky.com

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