Sir Arthur Keith proved that the ethny, not the individual, is the biological evolutionary unit that really matters. So we are hard-wired to treasure, preserve, defend, and advance our people -- and that is as it should be.

We could simplify this aspect of the human condition by positing three basic kinds of thinkers:

1. Group thinkers, who in most ways adapt themselves to the dominant philosophies of their group. These are, probably necessarily, the majority. They rise or fall depending on the worth of their leaders' ideas.

2. Independent thinkers who are individualists. If they too strongly oppose the group that nurtured them, they tend to fail, though sometimes in a meteoric fashion that influences others.

3. Independent thinkers who are loyal to their people and who try to use their new ideas to advance that people. These can be heroes, leaders -- and occasionally martyrs if their people aren't ready for them. I think they have the greatest chance of truly advancing human consciousness and evolution.