Okay, In this video, we're going to do something very different from everything else. We've done all of our other videos on statistics and experimental design. In this video, I am going to address the history of eugenics in the discipline or the field of statistics. If you have done any web searches on the topic of statistics, you will likely have come across some webpages that asked the question, something like, is statistics racist? There is reason for why those webpages exist. And that is because the fact is that the field of statistics has its roots in eugenics. Okay? That is fact. That is not the case now. So what I mean is, of course, those roots still exist. But the current state of the field of statistics has no association whatsoever with eugenics. And that's because over time, the link between statistics and eugenics as change. And for a variety of reasons, including because of influences of other fields, in particular biology, the field of biology, and influences from the fields of social sciences. Okay? So what started out as a topic that was highly influenced by views with eugenics is now a discipline, statistics is now a discipline that is divorced or removed from eugenics. Okay? Having said that, this history needs to be acknowledged and it needs to be acknowledged to enlarge part. So that we can talk about the field and talk about the people who have contributed to this field in the past in an appropriate way, in a way that is ethical and mature and respecting people's rights. That's a tall order. And to be honest, I I I am uncertain whether or not I'm actually the appropriate person to do that because I'm not sure that I actually know how to lead that kind of discussion. And that's because I'm not a historian and I am not a, an expert in ethics. And both of those perspectives, I think what's really needed to have a proper conversation around this topic. So why, why am I making this video in the first place than if I don't feel like I'm qualified. Well, the first was simply to make you aware of the history of the link between eugenics and statistics. But also I wanted to lead you to some other resources to help you learn about this so that you can become more of a historian and inform your own ethical views on this, this general topic. So the place I'd really like to point you to is this paper. It's in the Journal of the history of biology. It's a long paper, it's over 30 pages. It's called emancipation through interaction. How eugenics and statistics converged and diverged. I read this paper recently and loved it. It's fascinating. It's a long read. But it is amazing. You having said that, I'm, I'm fully acknowledge that I'm not a historian and so I'm not in a position to critically evaluate this, this paper from a historical perspective because that's not my area of expertise. But my sense is that this would be a good paper to go to at least as a first step in true understanding these general issues. And to be honest, that's the stage that I met in this overall topic. One of the things that this paper does is it highlights how common views of eugenics had bean as my own. That's one anecdote that comes from my own family. My grandmother went to university during the Second World War. And that was unusual for women to be going to university at that time. And she was approached by other people who told her that it was her duty to have lots of children. Because she must be really intelligent, being a woman going to university at that time and age. And those perspectives, that encouragement came from a eugenic perspective. So this paper helps to provide a better understanding of the context of eugenics in society at those times. And how it interacted with the field of statistics to get it started and how things changed over time. So I'm going on a little bit about this paper. But I really do recommend that at least as a first step in understanding this. As I believe I said it earlier, one of the reasons for talking about this topic is because I wants to be able to discuss major figures within a discipline in an appropriate manner. And one of the people who comes up in this topic is this individual here, Ronald Fisher. Ronald Fisher was a major figure in the field of statistics. He developed many of the techniques that we still use today in the field of statistics. He was also a very prominent biologist and contributed major ideas that have, have influenced the field. Having said that he is a controversial figure and that's because Ronald Fisher also had very strong and positive views towards eugenics and he was an outspoken individual supporting eugenics. And so for this reason, he is a divisive figure. And as an example, the Society for the Study of Evolution used to have a prize called the Fisher Price, but they recently decided to rename that prize. I don't know yet what they've decided on. I don't think they're just going to name it prize and just remove the name Fischer. But this is an example of how divisive his views can be. I'm aware that at the University of Edinburgh, in the School of Biological Sciences, some students raise major concerns and about the fact that Ronald Fisher was mentioned in some lectures in there for the topics they were learning. I believe the topic wasn't Statistics. And from my understanding, those students, from, from their comments, they said they did not want. Ronald Fisher mentioned in their materials. I want to address my own perspective on how we should approach controversies or issues like this. Okay? So I'm going to ask this question. Should we, or do we simply ignore the role of eugenics and statistics? And simply ignore the people who held eugenic views. But we're a part of the discipline of statistics or biology for that matter. Okay? This is what at least some students were suggesting. According to my understanding of what happened. My view is that we should not simply ignore those individuals and leave them out of our lecture material. And I see that for two reasons. The first is that if we simply ignore these issues, then what that means is, are my view is that ignoring this part of history is a disservice to the people who actually suffered as a result of these views. Because we will not be acknowledging the challenges that they endured and had to deal with or may continue to have to deal with. Okay. So just to reiterate, I do not think that simply ignoring these people, these figures in history is a wise thing to do because I believe it's a disservice to the people that their views have affected. Okay? The second reason is that I feel that if we just ignore issues like eugenics and the people who supported those views, than what we do is if we just ignore the past and we lose context for understanding the present, we lose the ability to understand how society has changed and to acknowledge that it has changed. And when we acknowledge that it has changed, that is tangible evidence for there being a dialogue in society about what is considered acceptable and what's not. And if we just ignore aspects of history, then I think we're doing ourselves again, a huge disservice by ignoring how society has changed and not fully acknowledging where we've come to know. I'm not trying to say by any means that that means that I think the where we are today is the best place to be, could be. There are obviously huge problems with society as it stands right now. But at least in certain respects, I believe society has improved compared to how it wasn't the past. We ignore issues, the past, we lose sight of that change. So that's why these two points are why I do not wants to simply forget and not I do not want to simply ignore people who had views that are so at the very least controversial and in my view, awful. Okay, So I want to end the video really with this statement here. Okay? And that is that if I mention certain figures in a discipline, I do so by acknowledging their scientific contributions. Okay. And my acknowledgment of these individuals by no means should suggest that to actually support their personal views or even necessarily that I support to their scientific views. So to be absolutely clear, in my view, any views that support eugenics or any form of prejudice are abhorrent and horrible. And I do not support them in any way whatsoever. So if you see me presenting results, are presenting figures from history or even potentially modern-day figures. In the videos that I'm presenting in either statistics or biology do not take that as my condoning their particular views on any aspect of society. Okay. I'm going to end the video there. I hope it's been helpful. And I'll say, thank you very much.