*Warning* Very Contraversial Topic: Is there anything to this? (user search)
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
April 27, 2024, 01:14:25 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  Forum Community
  Off-topic Board (Moderators: The Dowager Mod, The Mikado, YE)
  *Warning* Very Contraversial Topic: Is there anything to this? (search mode)
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: *Warning* Very Contraversial Topic: Is there anything to this?  (Read 7885 times)
muon2
Moderators
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 16,802


« on: September 20, 2004, 04:53:09 PM »

It is nearly impossible to use race in any genetically meaningful way. The concept of race as used today dates to the early European explorations and the stark differences in appearance they enconutered as they hopped hundreds of miles between ports. It is interesting that the Arab traders working at the same time from town to town across two continents found no stark differences. The variations were gradual as one traveled and the concept of race made little sense.

It is true that isolated populations are likely to contain unusual genetic distributions. However, the differences in genetics are generally in the distributions, not in the individuals. Also the diversity of populations within the grand racial categories are generally larger than the differences between races. The ethnic groupings of the mid-second millenium should take their place alongside the flat unchanging earth and the earth-air-fire-water view of matter.
Logged
muon2
Moderators
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 16,802


« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2004, 07:41:26 AM »

I would tie my last post into the idea that certainly, there are different charecteristics between different races and ethnicities of people.  We are all humans, don't get me wrong, but if you believe in elvelutionary theory, then you must believe that the variations in different people are present to improve the survival skills of that group in thier climate.  Indeed, given some millions of years of development, we might eventually have not only different races, but different spiecies of humans, given enough genetic and enviromental variations, though with new technology, this seems unlikely.

However, do these differences account for personality differences in individuals?  In nature important to personality.  Studies on individuals would seem to indicate that nature is very important.  Is it important on a race-by-race basis though?  I'm still in the air about that.
The key to asking relevant questions is to avoid the large categories that are called races, and instead ask about smaller ethnic populations confined to a small region. In these cases there may be significant genetic variations compared to the larger human population. The small region requirement is important, because as groups spread out intermarraige with other populations will wash out some of the genetic uniqueness.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.017 seconds with 12 queries.