Exercising your critical thinking:

What are the strengths of this idea?

Noyes’s idea is very optimistic since he is an idealist; he wasnt to create a perfect community more towards Utopia.

His idea is good that only the best will be born among all the Oneidans. He believes in the tradition that good family is the happiness of life. He wants to have a tight community, tight family, and seperating his verses the outsiders.

What works against this idea?

Noyes does not mention how to determine the best. Due to his strict rules, his ideas of tradition and family fell apart and the community does not exist today.

What traces of this idea can we identify in 21st century USA?

Dating. People date, they try to choose the best mate they can have. If the two best mates get married, they can use the 21st century technology to choose their child. For example, they can choose their child’s sex.