(6 of 6)
It seems probable that before society solves the thorny problem of race prejudice, advancing science—or even the continuing evolution of the human species—will beat society to it. The world's population is already three-fifths colored—that is, other than white. Geneticists Bentley Glass and Ching Chun Li predict that within ten centuries or so, at the present rate of exchange, the U.S. Negro will be genetically indistinguishable from the U.S. white. In far less time than that, says Stanford University Geneticist Joshua Lederberg, science will have learned enough about the genetic code to tamper with it—to insert into the human chromosomes artificial chemical commands capable of determining anything from skin color to musical aptitude.
Until the world accepts the proposition that the universality of mankind outweighs the differences, speculation about the meaning of the diversity will continue. The human physical variety is self-evident, so is the wide spectrum of human achievement. It is well-established that the controlling factors are cultural and environmental. Nothing that man has discovered about himself so far provides any sound scientific foundation for the conclusion that one race is innately superior to any other. No one knows. And the men of tomorrow, looking back, may wonder why anyone was ever concerned with such comparisons.