Geneticists Shake UP the Mix Again

[dannan14]

Hmm - so each of the "races" could also be viewed as a subset of the species - much as with dogs - terriers, collies, sheppards, dalmatians, etc.
Wonder which is actually the oldest of the sub-species of human and which the youngest. Do they know?

In the same class that i learned about the skin color bit my instructor, who was a molecular anthropologist herself (read as genetic anthropologist) said that the current consensus is that 'race' is a sociological term, not a biological one.

[rich]

Maybe so - but bone structure is biological.

[dannan14]

That's true. i don't know all that much about human morphology, but i know i have seen people of very different looking races that could be twins with only skin or hair color or hair texture and thickness as the physical differences between the two.

i feel more aware that we're all the same during those moments

[rich]

Noticed that too - but what I'm also wondering is could Neandertal be considered as a different "race" in that sense?

[dannan14]

i'm thinking there is a good chance for that to have been true.

[Ishtar]

... out of the list of seven words i chose one for its cultural effect in America since it is probably the most recognized Spanish word by non Spanish speakers here. The other i chose because it shows how slang can preserve the past.

AQ'WA meaning 'water' ...
PUTI meaning 'vulva' .

Words that travel between language groups are known as 'loanwords' and here, Dannan, you've picked two of the most important words that are key to the survival of man as a species - water and vulva.

No wonder the Trappist Monks couldn't stop talking about it!

[Ishtar]

This world map, also from Dan Short's website, is even more useful because it shows the geographical distribution of the IE language group. The IE-speaking countries are those within the red lines.

Things to note:

The great swathe across the southern part of Russia is mostly Siberia.

The bottleneck currently coming out of India has been caused by a relatively recent influx of Moslems. Given that those countries are collectively known as the 'stans' and 'stan' is the Sanskrit word for land, I think we can safely assume that Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and any other stan, for that matter, were originally IE speaking. Same with Indonesian countries, for the same reason.

Apart from that, there are only three places that other language groups prevail: the north of Russia and the Far East - OK, no surprises there ... but Africa, where we are all supposed to have come from? Hmmm....

[Digit]

that 'race' is a sociological term, not a biological one.

Which of course is the politically correct way of talking utter rubbish!
To expect me to accept that a negro is black and that I am white for social and not biological causes is to expect me to believe in fairies!
I never cease to wonder if these fools actually believe what they spout.

[Minimalist]

My guess is the negative effect are marginal, but just enough to encourage long term adaptation. 400 years probably isn't long enough.

Possible but that leads back to the conundrum of evolution. There is no emotion in natural selection. Organisms which need to adapt in order to survive either do and live or do not and die out. If there is no short-term pressure to evolve then it seems logical that there can't be any long-term pressure either.


The more I think about this the more of a multi-regionalist I become!

[Digit]

So where are the Club's thought processes deficient I wonder Min?
Getting the establishment to accept a new idea is like dragging a dead weight around.
As I see it Multi regionalism might well be wrong, but it sure has less problems than out of Africa.

[kbs2244]

Ish:
I thought the various "stans" were named by the Brits?

[Ishtar]

Ish:
I thought the various "stans" were named by the Brits?

KB - this is from the Online Etymological Dictionary:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-stan

-stan "country," source of place names such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc., from Pers. -stan "country," from Indo-Iranian *stanam "place," lit. "where one stands," from PIE *sta-no-, from base *sta- "to stand" (see stet).