1600 words

Genetic Similarity Theory evolved so we could better spread on shared genes in our immediate population, as well as those closest to ourselves. Meaning those of our race/ethnicity. People say “how could altruism evolve if it’s self-sacrifice, selfishness would win out”. Well, what’s being preserved is not the individual, obviously, but shared genes. To those who say (JayMan) that ethnic genetic interests don’t exist, there is a mountain of evidence that says otherwise.

Rushton and Nicholson (1988), tested predictions from genetic similarity theory and found that spouses select each other on the basis of more genetically influenced cognitive tests. It’s known since The Bell Curve came out in 1994 that spouses select each other based on IQ. What Rushton and Nicholson noted in the study was that estimates of genetic influence calculated on Koreans and Canadians predicted assortative mating in European Americans in Hawaii and California. Americans of mixed ancestry made up for ethnic dissimilarity  by matching up on the more heritable traits, whereas the correlation is lower for those traits that are more influenced by the environment. The observations on genetic selection were weaker but still had a positive correlation, when the g factor was taken out of the equation. This suggests that we choose mates based on the general intelligence factor.

In studies on bereavement, it’s noted that those parents who believe their children resembled their side of the family grieved more than if they believed their child resembled the opposite side of their family (Littlefield and Rushton, 1986). This has huge implications for Genetic Similarity Theory.

Henry Harpending showed that against the background of worldwide genetic variance, the average similarity between people in a single population is on the order of magnitude of half siblings.  To quote Rushton:

Political scientist Frank Salter calculated that compared to the Danes, any two random English people have a kinship of 1/32 of a cousin. Two English people become the equivalent of 3/8 of a cousin by comparison with people from the Near East, 1/2 cousin by comparison with people from India, half-siblings by comparison with people from China, and like full-siblings compared with people from sub-Saharan Africa.

Thus, the aggregate of genes people share with co-ethnics dwarfs those shared with extended families. Rather than being a poor relation of family nepotism, ethnic nepotism is virtually a proxy for it.

His conclusion being:

Conclusion: the reason people engage in ethnic nepotism, as well as marry similar others, and like, make friends with, and help the most similar of their neighbors, is that doing so benefits copies of their genes.

The sense of a common ethnicity remains a major focus of identification for individuals today. It is no more likely to diminish in the future than is that of the family.

Genetic similarity theory explains why.

In Rushton’s paper GENE-CULTURE COEVOLUTION AND GENETIC SIMILARITY THEORY: IMPLICATIONS FOR IDEOLOGY, ETHNIC NEPOTISM, AND GEOPOLITICS, two individuals will be, on average, more genetically similar to those of their own ethnicity than to those two from different ethnic groups. Therefore, it will be in the individual’s own self-interest to help one genetically similar to himself, and therefore, derogate the out-group, causing ethnic strife when two genetically dissimilar groups meet up and live together.

Jews that have been separated for thousands of years still show more genetic similarity to each other than to other populations. This shows in how ethnically nepotistic Ashkenazi Jews are to themselves. Jews from Iraq have more in common from a genetic viewpoint than do those 2 groups in comparison to other populations in the world. We can, therefore, expect Jews, as well as all populations in the world, to adopt ideologies that will proliferate their own genes, but come at the expense of derogating out-groups.

Genetic Similarity Theory may also explain how well and with how much tenacity the German military fought in WWII, as well as the lack of morale in the American Army during Vietnam.

He says that if genetic distance measures were calculated, that American liberals will be more genetically distant from the WASP average. The growth of white survivalism is also explained by genetic similarity theory. To quote Rushton:

The growth of “white survivalism” and militant “Christian Identity” groups such as the Aryan Nations, and the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, represent a more extreme response to these perceived threats to the AngloSaxon gene pool. If this overall analysis is correct, one might expect similar correlations in deviations from both genetic and ideological norms in other groups. Preserving the “purity” of the ideology might be an attempt at preserving the “purity” of the gene pool. Are ideological “conservatives” typically more genetically homogeneous than the same ideology’s “liberals”?

This can be seen today, no matter where you look in the world. From the Rwandan genocide involving the Tutsis and the Hutus to La Raza in the American Southwest to Black Lives Matter to the KKK and other white interest groups, to even how East Asians and other Asian immigrants basically isolate themselves in areas with those who are culturally, as well as genetically like themselves. Genetic similarity manifests itself in our societies and makes itself evident every day.

We can also view conflicts from other parts of the world to see genetic causes for them as well. We can look at the Northern Ireland conflicts between the Irish Protestants and Catholics to see if it represents a thousand-year-old continuation of the war between the AngloSaxons and the Celts, to the conflict of the Babylonians and the Egyptians which could be manifesting itself today between the Jews and the Arabs, ethnic dissimilarity shows itself in world geopolitics, as well as showing that ethnic dissimilarity is a driving focus in most of our wars and problems.

Rushton then finally asks the question:

If the replication of genetically similar genes is as strong a biological imperative as sociobiological theorizing suggests, why are descendants of North European populations everywhere in the world currently experiencing negative growth, while concurrently allowing extensive immigration from genetically less similar gene pools? Why, at the same time have North European populations adopted an ideology of secular humanism which discourages racist attitudes and encourages antipathies toward religious sentiment proportional to the degree to which those ideologies combat the new orthodoxy?

Cultural and organic evolution are different, yet linked in many ways and may ultimately share certain properties. Both strive to replicate at the expense of other groups, so we can see how ideologies could evolve that dramatically decrease fitness for one group over another. This also goes back centuries. This is seen in classes, and sometimes race. Those at the top, i.e., the more intelligent, have fewer children than the people that they rule over. Then, it’s not too long until the ruled become the rulers and the cycle repeats itself. Rushton says:

There is indeed evidence that this trade off exists at a quite profound level and moreover is related to other characteristics, the whole complex being partly genetic in origin (Rushton, 1985). My own guess is that low fertility may be partly mediated by a psychological process in which the desire to be in control of both oneself and one’s environment is taken to an extreme.

This is one of the many reasons that Europeans today have such a low birth rate. I have written before on how to ameliorate this effect, i.e., positive things shown to women in the media such as being happy with babies. That was shown to increase the birth rate in pre-WWII Germany as well as having a positive benefit on the psyche of the German women seeing other women happy with children. The effects of media socialization, though, go both ways, which is one reason for low European birthrates.

Successful cultures ultimately arise in those that the top of the society limits its reproduction, which, in turn, didn’t give others more genetically similar the chance to replace them. This may be a cause, as Rushton says, for the fall of the Graeco-Roman Empire, stating that the Roman Empire and other similar cultures were, presumably, evolutionary dead ends. He then asks: “If this perspective is accurate, are North Europeans headed for the same fate as the ruling classes of ancient Greece and Rome?”

Rushton ends the paper as follows:

The question is: if that time comes, in whose image will it be shaped? People will differ in their moral prescriptions. The choices they make are likely to reflect both their genetic and their ideological interests.

This is why I say, that, on an individual level, morals are subjective. Society as a whole sets morals, but this says to me that on an individual level that morals are subjective, but that’s for another time.

There are many reasons why altruism and ethnocentrism evolved, as well as many reasons why that same altruism is being used against Europeans, as well as some more environmental factors. This is also seen in Non-Western people who are abnormal to our societies due to differing evolution and culture, which culture is a product of genetics.

It’s clear that we are more altruistic to people who look more phenotypically similar to ourselves, to pass on and benefit copies of our genes. This evolved in spite of the negative impact on behalf of the altruist. The altruist is helping copies of his shared genes survive so that they may be copied into the next generation of progeny. The tendency to favor co-ethnics is the tendency to attempt to help pass on shared genes, as if the phenotype is similar, more often than not, the genotype is as well. This is the basis for ethnocentrism.