"Monica McLemore writes in Scientific American that the recent death of biologist E.O. Wilson (d. 26 Dec 2021) has forced her to begin yet “again reflecting on the complicated legacies of scientists whose works are built on racist ideas and how these ideas came to define our understanding of the world.”
The new article openly admits, “We must reckon with his and other scientists’ racist ideas if we want an equitable future.” Part of the problem was
Wilson argued that social behaviors from warfare to altruism had a genetic basis, an idea that contradicted the prevailing view that cultural and environmental factors determined human behavior. …
She adds that her PhD research forced her to familiarize herself intimately “with Wilson’s work and his dangerous ideas on what factors influence human behavior.” The racism of evolution was common, McLemore alleges.