Human genes are the fittest

THE EDITOR: In the Newsday of 28/07/03, Marion O’Callaghan in a column headlined “Creating Race” refers to views I have supposedly expressed about evolutionary theory. In the interests of avoiding misrepresentation and, more importantly, mis-education, I would like to point out a few of the errors in Ms O’Callaghan’s article.

1. O’Callaghan says human beings do not need evolution and goes on  to define evolution as “gene choice which ensures the fittest survive” as though genes only deal with physical structures such as claws and fur. In fact, natural and sexual selection also choose genes for the mind, and humans have the fittest genes in this regard, hence our dominance as a species.
2. She claims, I quote, “a peculiar group calling themselves evolutionary anthropologists” who “prove that humans are still evolving by the process of how men choose women and women choose men.” In fact, I have never quoted any such group and only used this label for one individual, the anthropologist and psychologist David Sloan Wilson.
Moreover, I have never claimed that human beings are still evolving by any process whatsoever: this is an open question in evolutionary theory.
3. O’Callaghan asserts that these “evolutionary anthropologists” hold that men and women marry according to physical attraction. In fact, on this topic I most frequently refer to the work of social psychologist David Buss and various evolutionary psychologists, all of whom point out that human beings choose mates on the basis of intelligence and character, as well as physical features which demonstrate fitness and fertility.

In closing, I note that O’Callaghan never once quotes me directly on any of my supposed views, and has clearly not bothered to read even a basic text on evolutionary theory. Frankly, I would have expected greater rigour from someone who purports to be an intellectual.

KEVIN BALDEOSINGH
Freeport