Re: Races of Man (breeds of dogs)
Michael A. Fishman (maf@t10.lanl.gov)
Wed, 13 Nov 1996 18:21:57 -0700
Mari J Stoddard wrote:
>
> How comparable are the human races to domestic dog breeds? Are the differences
> between humans and other apes similar to the differences between dogs and
> other canines?
Well, you must realize that human `races' is a socialogical, rather
than scientific construction.
For example: ``African Americans'' are no more a separate race than
I'm a rabbi.
(Apropos african-americans as a phrase: I've met a south-afrikan
women who's a naturalized US citizen. I wonder, isn't she an
african-american?)
In fact, there is some evidence (reviewed in Dawkin's _River out of
Eden_)
that, baring superficialities like melanin---which may be due to
convergence, differences (indicating relatedness) between black african
groups are greater than between some of these groups and, say, swedes.
>
> I've read some SF in which humans are bred for specific traits -- seems
> unlikely given our small litters and long maturation period -- but it would
> certainly be possible over an eon or two.
>
Actually, it won't take nearly as long for some attributes.
See artificial selection experiments (that's due to the fact
that we are not dealing with categorical, but with quantitative
attributes.)
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CREATIONIST A person arguing existence of God from a
viewpoint of natural theology - without knowing anything
about either Nature, or Theology.
G. W. MacLedet
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