rationalskepticism.org

SD was echoing the racist trope that dark skin is a more primitive trait than white skin. Whether he mentioned this for racist reasons I’ll leave for others to judge. The current scientific consensus however is that, our australopithecine ancestors had fair skin, even as chimpanzees do.

Dark skin is an adaptation due to hairlessness in an equatorial environment. Fair skin is a reversion to the more primitive state as the species moved into less sun-filled environments.