So How Different Are We?

[equippedblk]

There is new DNA research that suggests that of 3.1 billion bases that make up human DNA, there is only one base difference that accounts for the differences in skin color. According to Keith Cheng and his research team at Penn State University, we are more alike than not.

It is fairly common knowledge that all races and civilizations have their origins in Africa as the oldest Hominid fossils were found in Africa. As the story goes, a random mutation led to off spring of ancient Africans to be white versus black between 20,000-30,000 years ago. Obviously this was prior to the migration of people to Europe and other parts of the ancient world.

Personally this new information is powerful as I try to make sense out of things I encounter on a daily bases from a social point of view being a black man in western society. For me it provides greater insight into understanding the psyche of white America. Over the years people of color have faced oppressive behavior by the hands of Europeans, not just in North America but world wide, seemingly unwarranted. But imagine how the offspring of those ancient Africans must have felt when they realized that they were different from the rest of the tribe. How much of what is perceived as pure racism is really fear of being on a planet surrounded by people of color when you're a white person. Don't get me wrong, I am not making excuses for racist behavior, moreover, I am just trying to better understand human behavior.

Finally, the cock size issue. It is scientific fact that black men as a whole, do have larger cocks, according to the Kinsey Institute. The skin color research does not address this issue at all. My guess is that either the genes are linked for skin color and other features or for some reason it was biologically more favorable for people of color to have larger cocks perhaps to attract more fit mates therefore increasing the chances that one's DNA would be passed on to progeny. For this theory to be accurate, the increase in cock size must have happened after the white skinned africans migrated from the main groups otherwise there wouldn't be a difference in size only color of the organism. Again this is all speculation, but fun nonetheless.

Here is the link to the Washington Post Article that started all of this!

Equipped

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728.html

 

[FiFAveragejoe]

First off it is common scientific belief that the first humans where in fact white. The apes at the first homo-sapiens evolved from had light skin, however in their habitat this was a disadvantage since having light skin in a tropical climate can inhibit reproduction, and fertility. Thus dark skin proved more favorable and was selected for until it was the exclusive trait in Africa. Now as people migrated away from Africa to Europe, Asia, and other lands a move back toward lighter skin took place. This is because in temperate areas having dark skin could inhibit the absorption of certain vitamins gained from sun light. So light skin was selected for resulting in Europeans and Asians lighter complexion, in comparison to blacks.

As for cock size this can be explained by what is called in genetics the founder effect. When a group migrated away from Africa it did not represent the entire population, and certain traits will be more prevalent in the founding population. Over time these traits will be expressed in greater visibility as the founding population breeds with itself and is cut off from the gene pool of the original population. For example the population that migrated to Europe form Africa had a smaller average penis size, thus this trait was more expressed and is now distinguishable.

As for "race", the entire concept is in my opinion a fallacy. It is built entirely of social construction, and has not scientific backing what so ever.

 

[kathi]

There is no real significant difference in cock size. A number of very good papers have been published on the subject - one with 15.000 "speciins" 3.4% longer for blk (big deal) and 2.4% thinner. I couldnt tell the diff and I doubt any woman could. Its all individual variation

 

[kathi]

migrations out of africa were too numerous and to frequent for any founder effect --- think gene flow not gene drift

 

[equippedblk]

First off it is common scientific belief that the first humans where in fact white. The apes at the first homo-sapiens evolved from had light skin, however in their habitat this was a disadvantage since having light skin in a tropical climate can inhibit reproduction, and fertility. Thus dark skin proved more favorable and was selected for until it was the exclusive trait in Africa. Now as people migrated away from Africa to Europe, Asia, and other lands a move back toward lighter skin took place. This is because in temperate areas having dark skin could inhibit the absorption of certain vitamins gained from sun light. So light skin was selected for resulting in Europeans and Asians lighter complexion, in comparison to blacks.QUOTE]

I agree with you on several points. First your opinion that "race" is a social construction is similar to my opinion on the subject. Next , I totally agree that the hominoids that predated homo erectus did have dark colored hair with white skin underneath. According to Rogers, Iltis, and Wooding (2004), "the common ancestors of all humans on earth had white skin color under dark hair--similar to the skin and hair color pattern of today's chimpanzees. However, I never made any assertion to suggest otherwise. My point was that modern man, homo sapiens, were dark skinned at the time they emerged with a niche that led to speciation. According to fossil records(see PBS link below for evolutionary timeline), modern man emerged about 100,000 years ago. Genetic research reveals that, "from 1.2 million years ago for a million years, the ancestors of all people alive today were as black as today's Africans(Rogers 2004). There is further evidence to suggest that homo sapiens never mated with homo erectus, therefore although homo erectus were the first hominoids to experience a shift in skin color, having dark skin as a starting point is a defining ancient homo sapien trait.

I brought this whole thing up not to debate empirical data, but more so to explore the dynamic attitudes of people as more information like this is brought to light. My sincerest hope is that people will begin to realize how similar we all are and perhaps abandon their conditioned responses to race.



Equipped

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/humans/humankind/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color

http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news255.htm

 

[JackXY]

From a genetic viewpoint it is nonsense to group people together based on skin colour. There is more genetic variation in africa then there is in the rest of the world put together...ie there are more distinct genetic populations in africa then there is in the whole world. Just because people are on the same continent doesnt mean they are inter-breeding. Such people are separated by mountains, language, desert, forest, wealth, etc, etc...One such isolated group of people in Africa is likely to share as much in common as any other group on earth in comparison to his continental neighbour.