October 08, 2004  Are "ethnic genetic interests" behind
ethnocentrism? A test.  After the last long post on the origin
of ethnocentrism, I have pretty much exhausted my thoughts on
the subject. But an idea occurred to me as I was writing that
post which illustrates why attempts to explain ethnocentrism in
terms of "ethnic genetic interests" are fundamentally misguided
and ethnocentrism is best understood as a psychological-cultural
phenomenon. I have conceptualized this idea as a simple test: An
omnipotent being presents itself before you, posing a simple
dilemma: either George, an 18-year-old co-ethnic, or Michael, an
18-year-old foreigner will be killed. You are also told that (a)
neither George or Michael are your close kin, and (b) that
Michael is twice closer to you genetically than George. You can
decide to spare either George or Michael. Who would you choose?
If ethnocentric behavior arises from our desire to further our
genetic interests, then we would choose to spare Michael. If it
arises from our de