The Scientific Message

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I agree with Miriam Rosenthal ("Sociobiology: Laying the Foundation for a Racist Synthesis," Crimson, February 8, 1977) that we can't blindly trust the methods of scientists--but we can't blindly reject their conclusions either.

You don't need science to tell you we share the same DNA as the buffalo and virus. Put aside the question of "genes." Let us stand before the mirror and put aside our denim jeans and see our animal heritage. A father will quickly defend his home against an intruder without using a textbook (except as a weapon). The mother needs no more data than a whimper or tear to rush to comfort her child. We act instinctually despite sociobiology's attempts to prove it.

You don't need science to tell you all men are not created equal. Put a man and a woman in a secluded room and they will soon uncover this fact themselves. The woman cannot grow a testicle, nor the man a bust, nor the African a blonde hair, nor the Caucasian a colorfast suntan. Nor do they need to. As my roommate says, "What counts is not my 140 I.Q., but what I do with it."

Whether from Wilson, Emerson, or the honeybee, the message is the same: know what you have, and use it. To properly manage the colony of 100 trillion brain, muscle and skin cells entrusted to you (more than all the people that will ever enrich the earth's soil) is a divine task, and the unique privilege of being human. Alan White '77.