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So, how true is the statement "Race is a social construct?"
I don't think it is very true. The races are correlated with genetic differences. Relatively minor in most cases, but not trivial nor nonbiological. Of course, we are seeing such divisions diminish over time, since all humans can interbreed and their offspring will be intermediate in genetic composition. Race has no correlation with anyone's worth, but it is rooted in our biological history.
People create whole careers as experts on "race" issues. Those folks are only very rarely physical anthropologists. Thus, I don't give much value to such statements.
Of course, the physical anthropologists have egg on their faces too, as they elevated Homo sapiens to a unique species, when it is apparently not reproductively isolated from earlier hominins. We appear to all be subspecies of a larger Homo somethingus species. I think the obvious biological differences among the Homo populations demonstrate that we are like any other animal. When isolated, we can split into distinctive varieties, which can then backbreed into the larger population to perpetuate those newly evolved traits. Apparently Neanderthals and Denosovans did just that.
Last edited by Fiddlehead; 12-23-2013 at 08:59 PM..
So, how true is the statement "Race is a social construct?"
0%.
There is a physiological difference between all races.
The fact that it is not "Politically Correct" to highlight anatomical differences in anatomy and physiology courses at university does not alter the reality that there is a physiological difference.
When examining skeletal remains, one can readily distinguish not only between males and females, but between Aboriginoids, Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids.
This distinction can be made by visual observation only, from a distance equating to normal vision. In other words, with 20/20 vision or corrected vision, you need only be 20-40 feet from the skeletal remains in order to make a correct identification, which does not require hands on inspection or any testing.
The next time some idiot says that Species cannot interbreed, just throw this in their face....
Quote:
Interbreeding Threatens Rare Species, Experts Say
A Global Problem
The interbreeding issue is global. Because of human intervention worldwide, hybridization of both plants and animals is now occurring at much greater rates than ever before.
***
In sub-Saharan Africa, about 20 species of African clawed frogs have so successfully crossbred that they've produced at least seven genetically-distinct new species.
As you know, few years ago, we discovered that all Non-Sub Saharan Africans (Whites, Asians, Arabs, Indians, Native Americans, etc.) are 1 to 4% Neanderthals. Two years ago, we also found out that Australian Aboriginals are 4 to 6% Denisovans.
Are all the races really the same when some groups are up to 6% (as we know today and definitely more as we will find in the future) mixed with another group that's non Homo Sapiens?
Homo sapiens sapiens, homo sapiens Neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens Denisovans and also Homo floresiensis, plus great and long lasting homo erectus that had conquered Asia long before Homo sapiens, we are all of the Homo genus. There was also Homo sapiens cromagnon man that coexisted with Neanderthals. The Aborigines of Australia are pretty much what Denisovans and Neanderthals looked like, maybe hairier and less forehead and chin, plus shorter and stouter. Our genus came out of Africa several times in advancing waves with overlapping species. Homo erectus existed from 1.8 million years to only 143,000 years ago and us fully anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa 195,000 years ago, more than seven different species of us humans existed at one time together in time on the planet and we are the last surving species with remnant DNA of the other species in our DNA.
Homo sapiens sapiens, homo sapiens Neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens Denisovans and also Homo floresiensis, plus great and long lasting homo erectus that had conquered Asia long before Homo sapiens, we are all of the Homo genus. There was also Homo sapiens cromagnon man that coexisted with Neanderthals. The Aborigines of Australia are pretty much what Denisovans and Neanderthals looked like, maybe hairier and less forehead and chin, plus shorter and stouter. Our genus came out of Africa several times in advancing waves with overlapping species. Homo erectus existed from 1.8 million years to only 143,000 years ago and us fully anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa 195,000 years ago, more than seven different species of us humans existed at one time together in time on the planet and we are the last surving species with remnant DNA of the other species in our DNA.
There is a physiological difference between all races.
The fact that it is not "Politically Correct" to highlight anatomical differences in anatomy and physiology courses at university does not alter the reality that there is a physiological difference.
When examining skeletal remains, one can readily distinguish not only between males and females, but between Aboriginoids, Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids.
This distinction can be made by visual observation only, from a distance equating to normal vision. In other words, with 20/20 vision or corrected vision, you need only be 20-40 feet from the skeletal remains in order to make a correct identification, which does not require hands on inspection or any testing.
The next time some idiot says that Species cannot interbreed, just throw this in their face....
In biological classification, subspecies (abbreviated "subsp." or "ssp."; plural: "subspecies") is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or a taxonomic unit in that rank. A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more (including any that are extinct), never just one.
Organisms that belong to different subspecies of the same species are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring, but they often do not interbreed in nature due to geographic isolation or other factors. The differences between subspecies are usually less distinct than the differences between species. The characteristics attributed to subspecies generally have evolved as a result of geographical distribution or isolation.
Some interesting stuff. Sequencing of Neanderthal Toe Bone Reveals Unknown Hominin ...
quote:
An analysis of the relationships and population history of available archaic genomes and 25 present-day human genomes shows that several gene flow events occurred among Neanderthals, Denisovans and early modern humans, possibly including gene flow into Denisovans from an unknown archaic group. Thus, interbreeding, albeit of low magnitude, occurred among many hominin groups in the Late Pleistocene. In addition, the high-quality Neanderthal genome allows us to establish a definitive list of substitutions that became fixed in modern humans after their separation from the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans.
The other subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu went extinct 160000 years ago.
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Homo sapiens sapiens, homo sapiens Neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens Denisovans and also Homo floresiensis, plus great and long lasting homo erectus that had conquered Asia long before Homo sapiens, we are all of the Homo genus. There was also Homo sapiens cromagnon man that coexisted with Neanderthals. The Aborigines of Australia are pretty much what Denisovans and Neanderthals looked like, maybe hairier and less forehead and chin, plus shorter and stouter. Our genus came out of Africa several times in advancing waves with overlapping species. Homo erectus existed from 1.8 million years to only 143,000 years ago and us fully anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa 195,000 years ago, more than seven different species of us humans existed at one time together in time on the planet and we are the last surving species with remnant DNA of the other species in our DNA.
