94 TABOO AND GENETICS 



becomes more pronounced. As control of en- 

 vironment becomes more complete and easy, 

 natural selection grows harder to detect. We 

 turn our interests and activities toward the 

 search for what we want and take survival 

 largely for granted — something the savage 

 cannot do. Natural selection becomes unreal 

 to us, because the things we do to survive are so 

 intricately mixed up with those we do for other 

 reasons. Natural selection in gregarious ani- 

 mals operates upon groups rather than upon 

 individuals. Arrangement of these groups is 

 often very intricate. Some have territorial 

 boundaries and some have not. Often they 

 overlap, identical individuals belonging to sev- 

 eral. Hence it is not strange that natural selection 

 phenomena often escape attention. 



But this must not lead us to suppose that 

 natural selection is wholly inoperative in civi- 

 lized society. We see some nations outbreeding 

 others, or dominating them through superior 

 organization. Within nations, some racial and 

 religious groups outbreed others and thus 

 gradually supplant them— /or the future is to 

 those who furnish its populations. 



