274 Chapter 11
fromthe sun thandarkerskinwould.Despitethe genesfor lighterskinbeingrecessive,
lighterskincameto dominateamonghumanbeingsin northernEurope.Thisdoesnot
suggestthat a lighterskincoloris inherentlybetter(no skincoloris), but it is evidentthat
thisgeneticallyinducedadaptationprovideda greater“fit” for thisparticularhabitat,
underthisparticularset of environmentalcircumstances,thandid geneticallyinduced
darkskin.^36 Say,for instance,thatbotha Light-SkinnedFamilyanda Dark-Skinned
FamilyoccupyStone-AgenorthernEurope.The Dark-SkinnedFamilydoesnot get suffi-
cientVitaminD andit resultantlydiesof ricketsbeforemostof its memberscan repro-
duce.TheLight-SkinnedFamilyreceivessufficientamountsof VitaminD fromthe sun,
and hencesubsistslongenoughto replicateits genes.Overtime,Dark-SkinnedFamilies
dwindlein thisenvironmentwhereasLight-SkinnedFamiliescometo perpetuatetheir
numbersand dominate.
Thecolorof one’s eyesandhaircorrelatewithskincolor.Someonepossessingvery
littlepigmentwouldbe an albinowithwhitehair.As an albino’s irisescontainverylittle
pigment,onecan see the bloodbehindhis irises;thatis whyalbinoshavered eyes.
Someonewithmuchmorepigmentwouldhaveblueeyes,and blondeor red hair.Darker
pigmentswillrenderone’s eyesgrayor violet,andstill morepigmentswillrendereyes
green.Thatmostpeoplehavedarkerpigmentsexplainswhymostof the Earth’s human
populationhas browneyesand brunetteor blackhair.The genefor red hairoriginatedin
Africa,andhadbeencarriedby dark-skinnedpeoplesfor millenniabeforethe Nordic
racescameintoexistence,andit eventuallyfoundits wayout of AfricawhenAfricans
beganmigratinginto Europe.As red hairis a recessivetraitthat correlateswithlightskin,
the traitwasseldomseenin Africans.A largepopulationof redheadsdid not emerge
except in the environmentof northernEurope,whereontologicallygivenecological
circumstances“selected” for the genesthat producedlightskin.^37
BetweenWorldWarTwoand the publicationofSociobiology, socialscientistsappeared
to be reluctantto discussthattopicso openly,for fearof beingstigmatizedas social
DarwinisteugenicistscovertlyandcrypticallyadvocatingAryansupremacyand“scien-
tificracism.” Of course,everyethnicgroupon Earthis just as highlyevolved—in the
biological,geneticcontext—as anyother.ThereasonwhyWestAfricanshavespecific
distinctivephysicalfeaturesis thatthosewerethe featuresthathelpedWestAfricans
adaptin the StoneAge,just as EastAsianshavespecificdistinctivephysicalfeatureson
accountof thosefeaturesbeingnaturally“selected” to persistin the EastAsianenviron-
ment.Thishappenedthroughthe processof kin selection,whereinthe presenceof partic-
ularphysicaltraitsin a clanassistedenoughmembersof thatclanin survivinglong
enoughto disseminatetheirlong-termgeneticlegacy.
In termsof “deciding” whichfamilialgroupsbequeaththeirDNAto futuregenera-
tionsandwhichdo not,suchphysical“racial” differencesare not as big a factorin the
modernindustrialenvironmentas theywerein the StoneAge.RecallfromBookTwothat
modernindustrializationhas leveledthe playingfieldfor everyethnicityon everygeo-
graphicterrain.Backin the StoneAgethesephysicaldifferences,suchas skincolor,could
sometimesbe oneof the biggestfactorsin determiningwhowaslikelyor unlikelyto
transmithis germline.But suchsuperficialracialdifferencesholdminisculeinfluencein a
modern,highlyindustrialized,commercialisticrepublic.Firstthe modernindustrializa-
tionhas significantlyreducedthe statisticaldeathrateandthereuponsloweddownthe
processwherebyspecificgeneticallyinducedphysicalcharacteristicsin menare eliminat-
ed fromthe genepool.Moreover,in the modernindustrialenvironmenta personprimari-
ly maximizeshis chancesof producingmorekin by financiallyenrichinghimself.To the
extentthatthatpersonexistsin a free economy,a personenricheshimselfthroughmax-
imizingrevenueby satisfyingconsumerdemandin a businesssetting.Andthis abilityto
maximizerevenueis governedby a rationalfacultythat is equallykeenin everyethnicity