Jacques-Louis David, Leonidas at Thermopylae, 1814, detail
In On Genetic Interests, Salter provides some impressionistic (qualitative) graphs interpreting how different ideologies distribute interests along the continuum of Self-Family-Offspring-Humanity. Putting aside minor quibbles (both offspring and ethny can be more fine-grained categories with different levels of relatedness — offspring can be extended to the entire family, including distinctions such as brother vs. cousin; ethny can have ethnic group vs. race, etc.) this is a quite useful instrument to think about the relationship between memes and genes, and how cultural artifacts and social technologies affect our genetic interests. (more…)
In our universities today and in the pages of the scientific journals a battle is being waged between scientists concerned with racial matters on the one hand—biologists, psychologists, and anthropologists of professional integrity—and pseudo-scientists concerned with upholding the fundamental liberal dogma of universal human equality on the other hand. Despite the well-entrenched position of the pseudo-scientists and their powerful allies in politics and the communications media, encouraging progress is being made by the scientists. (more…)
