darkuser Wrote:
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> What do you make of this article from wikipedia
> Dave?
What the article boils down to, is that:
1) Some sort of racial structuring of the human species probably does exist.
2) It only involves a SMALL (overheavy on phenotypic traits?) fraction of the overall genetic variation.
3) We don't know how significant it actually is (hard to seperate out genetic vs cultural/environmental influences). See #4 below.
3) The concept of "race" was GREATLY misused by racists during the 19th & 20th century. Lots of false or misleading data was generated, much harm was done to innocent people. In consequence, many scientists shie off from using the concept out of a sense of social responsibility, and/or distaste over associating themselves with a concept that was used so harmfully by bad people.
4) Modern studies suggest that either NO significant differences exist between "races" as regards mental ability & moral/mental characteristics, or else that so much overlap exists between races (re these capabilities on an individual level) that no valid distinctions can be drawn. PHYSICAL differences DO exist (re specific types of athletic ability, etc), but again, there is a fair bit of overlap, & cultural/social/environmental issues confuse matters (via differential options available to children of different racial "identities", & differential effort put into these differing options. "Short version": Society reinforces hopes of academic/professional success for a bright Caucasian student... but tends to depress such hopes in a similarly bright Black student.... who is demographically less likely to attend decent primary schools or have access to college funding to boot. So... many White students put relatively re effort into academics, many black students put relatively more effort into non-academic venues.... if they try at all.)
5) When all is said & done, the concept of "race" is a useful generalization..... NOT very accurate, full of flaws, prone to negative stereotyping, but helpful in simplifying the world into something that the average person can understand.
Kenuchelover.
