France: "Do as I say, not as I do..."
- Thread starter Damocles
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Thorn
Member
Ah, but race is not based just on skin color. There are a number clusters of physical characteristics that distinguish races of humans from one another. And different kinds of birds, etc. A corollary: cheetahs and leopards are both big cats, but they're different "races". Robins and mockingbirds are both songbirds, but also are distinct from one another. They can interbreed and then you have a hybrid that represents, usually, the best of both, but still are distinct from one another. None is better or worse than the other, but the differences go deeper than coat or plumage.
I think that the reason that so many people (especially us here in North America) resist the notion that races of people may be biologically different is the guilt that some people (usually caucasoids) have wrongly viewed people of different races as inferior. That view is bigotry and I agree it's wrong, both morally and in fact. That doesn't change the other fact, however, that the races do differ in certain respects from one another.
Did I mention at any point that I'm a (neuro)biologist?
Ah, but race is not based just on skin color. There are a number clusters of physical characteristics that distinguish races of humans from one another. And different kinds of birds, etc. A corollary: cheetahs and leopards are both big cats, but they're different "races". Robins and mockingbirds are both songbirds, but also are distinct from one another. They can interbreed and then you have a hybrid that represents, usually, the best of both, but still are distinct from one another. None is better or worse than the other, but the differences go deeper than coat or plumage.
I think that the reason that so many people (especially us here in North America) resist the notion that races of people may be biologically different is the guilt that some people (usually caucasoids) have wrongly viewed people of different races as inferior. That view is bigotry and I agree it's wrong, both morally and in fact. That doesn't change the other fact, however, that the races do differ in certain respects from one another.
Did I mention at any point that I'm a (neuro)biologist?
-Ah, but race is not based just on skin color. There are a number clusters of physical characteristics that distinguish races of humans from one another. And different kinds of birds, etc.
Nope. The human genome project is over ten years old now, and the results are in. The old concepts of "race" was a false construct of the human mind. One of the most astonishing finds of the human genome project is that there is more genetic variation between people of dark skin color than there is between people of color, and people of european ancestry.
-A corollary: cheetahs and leopards are both big cats, but they're different "races".
Nope. They're different species, not "races". There is no such thing as "race" in science or evolutionary biology.
uscitizen
Villified User
LOL, the genome project just maps less than 1/2 of the DNA. Just the protein generators are mapped, they still have very little clue as to how the programming part of the DNA works.
Very non technical terms I know Thorn, but I am not a neuro biologist.
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LOL, the genome project just maps less than 1/2 of the DNA. Just the protein generators are mapped, they still have very little clue as to how the programming part of the DNA works.
Very non technical terms I know Thorn, but I am not a neuro biologist.
Human Genome: Because They Could
By Kristen Philipkoski| Also by this reporter
03:00 AM Jun, 26, 2000
The often bitter race to map the human genetic system appears to have ended in a dead heat.
Competing researchers both say they've completed a working draft, which maps 90 percent of the chemical units making up a human's genetic heritage.
Scientists with the internationally funded Human Genome Project, as well as researchers from Celera, a for-profit genomics company, agreed to end their rivalry and keep the focus on science.
The working draft of the human genome map will provide scientists with the biological foundation of human life. Researchers say the complete map may herald a revolution in medicine, giving physicians the material they need to predict, prevent, and even treat disease.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,37206,00.html
1) A cheetah and a leapord and not different "races" of cats, any more than a chimpanzee and a human are different "races" of primates. They are different species. Thorn was WAY, WAY off base here.
2) The human genome project found there was no significant genetic differences between humans of all skin colors, hair color, eye colors, or any other physical attribute, that could account for a scientific grouping into "races"
Battleborne
Terminator
Say what.....
LOL @ You and cypo...go back into the sandbox and play with each other like good little boys...!
Of the 40 million Sudan population 70% are Sunni Muslim 25% Indigenous Beliefs and 5% Christian...Darfurs Arabs are black,indigenous,African and Muslim...so what do we have a ethnic or religious war going on??? Actually I just took the religious side as y'all Lib's were so busy patting each others butts ya missed the real picture....Actually the war is nothing more than the North(Ranchers) fighting the South (Farmers)for the large Oil Reserves in the South...it is so much easier for the general public to blame the genocide on religious or ethnic rather than the real cause...the only ones who have it right are the Chinese they are defending their oil interests in the south and could care less about all the killing fields!
www.twf.org/News/Y2004/0807-Darfur.html
LOL @ You and cypo...go back into the sandbox and play with each other like good little boys...!
Of the 40 million Sudan population 70% are Sunni Muslim 25% Indigenous Beliefs and 5% Christian...Darfurs Arabs are black,indigenous,African and Muslim...so what do we have a ethnic or religious war going on??? Actually I just took the religious side as y'all Lib's were so busy patting each others butts ya missed the real picture....Actually the war is nothing more than the North(Ranchers) fighting the South (Farmers)for the large Oil Reserves in the South...it is so much easier for the general public to blame the genocide on religious or ethnic rather than the real cause...the only ones who have it right are the Chinese they are defending their oil interests in the south and could care less about all the killing fields!
www.twf.org/News/Y2004/0807-Darfur.html
uscitizen
Villified User
Yep the chemical makeup parts are the same, but the "programming part" that tells the chemical makeup part what to do is a mystery. Building blocks are pretty much the same , but how they are used is the difference.
Strange that all homes do not look the same since they all have pretty much the same components.
Strange that all homes do not look the same since they all have pretty much the same components.
Thorn
Member
Oops you're right about that.
Well, the problem there is if you take each of those characteristics one by one it is less likely that a difference will be found than if you group whatever characteristics may be deemed to constitute a biological "race" and compare them to one another. It seems that such a comparison may have been made, using one male representative from five different "racial" groups. That finding did support your report that the differences seemed to be greater between individuals of different heights, for instance, than in different "racial" categories. I've had some difficulty getting to original source documents on this; perhaps it's just too new. I tried but couldn't access (without paying) the paper published by the Stanford geneticist, who also seemed to say the same thing. He is very well-established in his field and I'm inclined to accept what he's said. Another paper by a researcher in Australia suggested that despite those findings, scientists may still find it useful to use the concept of race to group people in certain circumstances.
Where I can see this being useful is, for instance, in assessing genetic vulnerability to certain diseases, such as sickle cell anemia or Tay-Sachs disease. Those conditions tend to argue in favor of a biological concept of race, but until findings are concluded I'm willing to concede on this point.
I'm a little concerned by the use of an "n" of 1 only for these studies, but they are so very involved (and horrendously expensive!) that if the findings are reliable perhaps further testing isn't necessary. The findings haven't all been analyzed or published yet, so it will be interesting to see what conclusions are reached.