An Overview Of Genetic Qualities In Humans
                          February 1990

     One can say that the history of human beings seems to be the
competition between various groups of people based on race, language,
country, etc.  It has been said, however, about all of life,
regardless of which creatures one speaks of, that that creature is
only the form which the creatures genes use to pass itself on.  For
the duration of this discussion it will be assumed that the human
being is simply the form that human genes give themselves as a vehicle
for passing themselves on to a new vehicle.  That is, people have
babies because that's how people are used by their genes so the genes
can go on "living".  Furthermore, there are a number of major
qualities/groups of genes that are competing, independently of the
above mentioned forms of competition between people.  That is, certain
major qualities of genes in people are competing for dominance over
each other.  Some of the major qualities are art, politics, religion,
and science.  One can see from history that some of these areas of
interest have allied/arrayed against each other, depending on time and
place in history.  Art is often lined up against the forces of
politics and religion.  Science and religion are often at odds with
each other.  Within any given individual one can say there are often
struggles between various of these qualities.  Perhaps the most famous
such confrontation was with Galileo, who, although kneeling to
recognize the Church, is said to have whispered that the Earth still
moves, that is, it was not the center of the universe, as declared by
the Church.
     Today we see two of the world's great scientists, Sakharov of
Russia, and Fang of China, arrayed against two of the largest
political systems in the world.  Without a single gun or soldier they,
as individuals, are managing to keep these formidable governments
quite out of balance.  In both cases, these individuals have
considerable support from many individuals in their respective
countries, in the others country, and millions of supporters in
countries all over the world.  They have done this by expressing their
desire for how they would like to have the world organized in such a
way that all these people identify as being in their own personal
interest and the personal interest of everyone.  That is, a way that
every normal human (what I would call the universal/international
person/human--one sees this most clearly when viewing leaders from
around the world: a universal standard of dress where you can't tell
the nationality, culture, language of the wearer; and only in a few
cases does race give you any hints to the contrary) could identify
with.
     Sakharov and Fang are at the current top of the science
hierarchy/structure.  Physicists, at the moment, have the most
influence on government and politics.  This has come about because of
the bomb, and secondarily control of matter and energy.  The 747 would
not be possible without the physicists knowledge of the controlled
application of energy to material, for example, titanium, to forge the
landing gear support of this huge airplane.  The 747, in turn, has
resulted in the more rapid/efficient transport of people and materials
to all corners of the Earth.  This in turn has resulted in the mixing
of cultures, races, nationalities, etc, to a degree that most people
can now recognize their common interests and welfare.  Along with the
transport of materials, there is the transport of information and
knowledge achieved through modern media, namely, television--another
area in which one can see the hands of the physicists at work.
     However, one can say that in today's world biologists are
accelerating faster than physicists in their importance in con-
temporary life.  This is so because their results are currently
showing more advances that will benefit individuals and groups of
people.  The unraveling of the secrets of the genes and cell processes
leads, in some cases, to immediate benefits that all can recognize.
The global person certainly sees the long term benefits for themselves
and their children.
     But more about the "global" person...  The global physicist, or
scientist in general, drinks Coca-Cola, dresses modestly, lives in
their own home if older or tenured at a university, and in a nice
apartment if a graduate student or new to the working world.  They
attend conferences and/or work in many countries around the world.
They all speak English.  They enjoy common recreational activities and
spending time with their friends.  They are married or have a
significant other.  They have no children, or fewer than their parents
had.  They are in contact with people in their specialty all over the
world via mail, telephone, FAX, publications, computer networks, and
mass media communications technology.  Politics, religion, and art are
secondary interests, or not at all.  They all support democratic
political systems as most conducive to their personal and profes-
sional goals.  The typical scientist is pushed by this internal
quality, embedded in the genes, to unravel the workings of the natural
world.  They don't like the unruly political types with their imposing
subjective ideas on the world.  One could even say that the bomb is
the scientists (mainly physicists) command for the political types to
be quiet and stop making so much trouble for everyone.  You don't have
to look very far to see that Europe has been VERY quiet now for 45
years.  Perhaps the longest time of peace for ten centuries!  Of
course, there have been small (relatively) wars in various places
during those same 45 years.  The last year has seen enormous progress
towards the development of democratic systems around the world.  One
can say that it looks like they are going to win and get their way.
That is, a world organized to do even more science.
     Right now the biggest success comes to the physicists who are
building the worlds biggest scientific instrument/toy.  The
SuperConducting Super Collider.  With this they will try to see the
beginning of the Universe and how matter became energy.  Right behind
them, and gaining fast, is The Human Genome Project to make a detailed
map of all human genetic material, the 3.5 billion base pairs or
smallest genetic units.  For some time the latter will be more
important to most people.  Now the competition is shifting to the
physicists versus the biologists.  But they won't be using bullets
against each other.