Re: Races of Man (was Re: Tolkien and the ruin of Fantasy)

Kai Henningsen (kai@khms.westfalen.de)
11 Nov 1996 21:57:00 +0200

halikias@ix.netcom.com (Alex E. Halikias) wrote on 09.11.96 in <562srr$som@sjx-ixn9.ix.netcom.com>:

> Humans and primates have nearly identical DNA structures, too. That

Though a lot less equal than humans to each other.

> just means our analysis of RNA structure and its implications are not
> fully understood, and cannot yet be used in our race comparisons.

Actually, it seems to mean the exact opposite.

Another interesting facet is that genetic similarity *very* closely
mirrors known evolutionary relations. This again seems to indicate that we
are doing something right here.

As to primates, some people actually think that at least one of them
(chimpanzees?) is close enough that a crossbreed might be possible.
However, I know of no experiments in that direction, except for some
attempts by non-human primates which I don't quite know if I want to
believe them.

Kai

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