Friday, March 20, 2020

Lebenseborn essays

Lebenseborn essays The topic of eugenics cannot be discussed without encountering the Holocaust, but this is as it should be. When contemporary geneticists, genetics counselors and clinical geneticists wonder why it is that genetics receives special attention from those concerned with ethics, the answer is simple and can be found in history. The events which led to the sterilization, torture and murder of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Slavs and children of mixed racial heritage in the years just before and during the era of the Third Reich in Germany were rooted firmly in the science of genetics (Muller-Hill, 1988). Rooted not in fringe, lunatic science but in the mainstream of reputable genetics in what was indisputably the most advanced scientific and technological society of its day. The pursuit of genetic purity in the name of public health led directly to Dachau, Treblinka, Ravensbruck and Auschwitz. As early as 1931 influential geneticists such as Fritz Lenz were referring to National Socialism as "applied biology" in their textbooks (Caplan, 1992). As difficult as it is for many contemporary scientists to accept (Caplan, 1992; Kater, 1992), mainstream science provided a good deal of enthusiastic scientific support for the virulent racism that fueled the killing machine of the Third Reich. When the Nazis came to power they were obsessed with securing the racial purity of the German people. The medical and biomedical communities in Germany not only endorsed this concern with "negative eugenics," they had fostered it. Racial hygiene swept through German biology, public health, medicine and anthropology in the 1920s and 1930s, long before the Nazis came to power (Weiss, 1987, Muller-Hill, 1988; Proctor, 1988; Kater, 1992). Many in the medical profession urged the Nazi leadership to undertake social policies that might lead to enhancing or increasing the genetic fitness of the German people (Kater, 1992). Eugenics consumed the German med...

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

A Google HR Chief Shares The Secrets to Getting Promoted

A Google HR Chief Shares The Secrets to Getting Promoted While there’s no one set way to guarantee you’ll get promoted, there are a few strategies that seem to work much better than others- even across a range of industries. Here are a former Google HR chief’s top 5  tips. 1. Get constant feedbackDon’t be a pest, but do constantly ask your boss what you would need to demonstrate to her to advance. Or, even more subtly, what she values most in a truly trusted employee. Then do that. Exactly that. Get in the habit of naturally, casually asking for feedback after meetings or presentations (â€Å"How’d that go?† â€Å"Anything I could have improved?†). Check in and ask periodically what skills you should be accumulating or developing.2.  Be the office problem solverThe first thing you need to do to be in good standing for a promotion is to earn the trust and confidence of your boss and the company at large. Do this by assessing, first and foremost, your boss’s biggest crisis or concer n, and set about solving it for them. Once you prove that you can listen carefully and pick out the most important priority and square it away, you’ll be well on your way.3.  Think in the long termYou should always be thinking three to five moves ahead, both of your colleagues and your boss. Make yourself a 5, 10, 25 year plan and start to map your progress to meeting your longest term goals- now. This way, you will continually generate new opportunities for yourself. Invest in your skills and career- even in unorthodox or sideways ventures. You never know when you’ll hit the magic alchemy to catapult yourself to the top.4. ASK!You’ll very rarely get a promotion if you don’t assert yourself as wanting one. This is particularly a problem for women, who nominate themselves far less frequently for advancement. Regardless of who is doing the promoting- your boss or a committee who hardly knows you or your work- be sure to put your name in every chance you g et. And ask your boss to help support you in moving forward.5.  Have a strong sense of realityIf you’re facing a ceiling- glass or any other kind, accept reality and figure out a smarter move. Say your boss’s job is the logical next step for you in your career path; if she’s not going anywhere, neither are you. Consider lateral moves to different departments, or even different companies, to give yourself the room to grow. If you’re not being recognized in a way you know you should be, move on. Always be willing to accept a difficult reality and pivot yourself to a solution.