The ever-cumulating dispersion, not only of information, but
also of population, across the globe, is the great social
phenomenon of this age. Regrettably, cultures are being
homogenized, but cultural differences are also being
demystified, and intermarriage is escalating, across ethnic
groups within states and between ethnicities across the world.
The effects are potentially beneficial for the improvement of
cognitive skills, from two perspectives. We can call these "the
expanding in-group" and the "hybrid vigor" effects. The in-group
versus out-group double standard, which had and has such
catastrophic consequences, could in theory be eliminated if
everyone alive were to be considered to be in everyone else's
in-group. This Utopian prospect is remote, but an expansion of
the conceptual in-group would expand the range of friendly,
supportive and altruistic behavior. This effect may already be
in evidence in the increase in charitable activities in support
of foreign populations that are confronted by natural