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Humans appear to have an inbuilt, almost irresistible tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them,” good guys and bad, in-groups and out-groups. We see this everywhere: in politics, in religion, in sports and national pride. For Jesus, the poor and downtrodden were the in-group and the Pharisees and the rich the out-groups; for Marxists (much as for Jesus), the working class was the in-group and the ruling class the out-group; for the Nazis, the Aryan race was the in-group and Jews the main out-group; and for some radical feminists and “lesbian separatists,” women are the in-group and men the out-group.”
― The Ape that Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve
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Genes are selected to the extent that they propagate themselves in the gene pool. Often, they do this by helping their owners to survive and reproduce, or by helping their owners’ kin to survive and reproduce. Sometimes, however, they may do so by helping their owners’ groups to do better than other groups, even at some cost to their owners. Either way, adaptations are designed to pass on the genes giving rise to them. And human beings, along with all other organisms, are gene machines.”
― The Ape that Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve
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