Skin color is regional adaptation, scientists say

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If humans "adapt" to their environment, then the adaptation would encompass more than just their skin tone. People who follow this logic will also state that Asian and Eskimo people groups have squinty eyes as an adaptation to blowing sand and snow, yet Arabs, who have dwelt in sand for hundreds of years, don't have squinty eyes. Adaptation also isn't something that starts and stops, it is a system. If people had adapted to their climate in the past, they would continue to adapt, and still be adapting today. Asians, who no longer live in a sandy environment, would be undergoing adaptaion to their current environment. With the passing of time their eyes would become more open.
If you look around you'll notice that the human body doesn't adapt well to the natural environment. That is why we've gone to such great lengths to adapt the environment to us.
 
Dikyllis, homo sap has adapted to climatic conditions from Tierra del Fuego--where indigines sleep in sub-freezing temperatures with little or no clothing--on through the tropics and north to above the Arctic Circle. From sea level to well up into the Andes and Himalayas. That seems like pretty good adaptation, to me. Only in the last 4,000 years or so have we created our own environments, and only in the last few hundred has technology allowed any that with notable efficiency.

At a guess, many such variations as epicanthic folds or pigmentation are not specifically needed as part of any survival. Not all genetic drift or mutation is associated with survival. Some of it, indeed, is contra-survival.

Regards, Art
 
Wouldnt the scandinavian have dark skin cause of the reflecting light off the snow, or are they covered up too much in dark forests? And if so wouldnt the arabs have light skin based on all the clothes they wear? Or does it all boil down to how much starkist tuna everyone eats? :)
I want a darker look I will now begin eating more vit d and see what happens, I bet not much in my case.

Art how well do humans adampt at 8000 meters?
Not too well according to K2 and Everest they both have a rather impessive body count. :D

[This message has been edited by oberkommando (edited August 28, 2000).]
 
There was a paper by an anthropologist whose name I forget who said that Scandinavians and other northern Europeans had thin facial features to reduce the area of exposure to the cold. Conversely, Africans and Middle Eastern people had wider features for more "air conditioning." Of course, that theory doesn't explain Eskimos.

Dick
Want to send a message to Bush? Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/monk/petition.html and forward the link to every gun owner you know.
 
The very term "race" is a social term. It is not a scientific term. NO geneticist will ever agree that such a thing even exists. It is merely a leftover from pre-scientific attempts to explain human variation. It belongs on the trash heap of psuedo-science with palm reading, phrenology, astrology and other mistakes.

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Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club
68-70
true story, a Union Gen. once said "Don't worry about those Rebs. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..SPLAT.
 
Art, people being able to tolerate a wide range of conditions is not adaptation.

These "scientists" have proposed that the body undergoes physical change to adapt to the climate the people live in. My point is this, there are a lot of people living in a lot of different climates, altitudes and so on, but the fact remains that there are few physical differences between any of these people groups.

If you compare the vital organs of any people group from anywhere in the world, you will find no significant differences. In other words, to buy into the theory of climatic adaptation, one must believe that climatic adaptation is "only skin deep"
 
A very controversial topic indeed, does race equal species? In the animal world we find many different species of very similiar critters, salmon and bears come to mind along with eagles and owls. Black goes far beyond skin colour, consult your own medical dictionarys for the real information regarding skeletal (skull and shins) differences as well as hair. Are brown bears racist for not breeding with black bears? Let's toss in the Bell Curve along with the lack of Olympic black swimmers (they don't float) just for entertainment. henry
 
This is not new news folks. It takes a VERY long time for adaptation to take place, and it takes a certain amount of isolation. Now that humans are not isolated, of course you will have some darker skinned people liveing in cold areas. It's because they were decended from people that origionated in warm areas, like the eskimos and indians! I suspect that people that have a problem with evolution can't accept that. When Galeleo invented the telescope everyone denied they saw stars cause they did not believe the Earth was not the center of the universe. To deny everything that goes on around you is not "faith" it's denial.
I still can't get over how this is being treated as new stuff!!???
 
When we talk about adaptation we are talking thousands and thousands of years. Fifty thousand to One hundred and fifty thousand in fact. It only happens faster than that if forced by something huge, or in Sci-Fi Books.

Assume for a moment that humanity started out in one place. We then spread throughout the world. Over tousands of years we have adapted to our new locations. Darker skin in areas of high radiation. More layers of fat for people in Cold areas. American Indians have a thinner much more lean build that people from Europe. It doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen. We are constantly evolving. In a million years who knows how or children will look back at us. Barbaric creatures with no morals. constrained by such limited mental abilities and by being tied to these frail bodies. Only God knows my friends..
 
Very interesting report, but maybe I am missing something, what does this have to do with handguns?

Anyway, in reality I love all my brothers and sisters equally whatever shade they come in. I don't see the need to broadcast this report on a guns forum...

[This message has been edited by Quantum Singularity (edited August 29, 2000).]
 
Git "I suspect that people that have a problem with evolution can't accept that"

I dont speak for others and have no problem with evolution as long as it is stated as a THEORY and not fact just like the liberals are so fast at saying Creation is a theory.

Neither can be proven. Not withstanding what the liberal "educators" would have us all believe. Sports clearly divide "races" whether we like it or not.
 
This will start a battle but I'm sorry Ober. Most educated people don't think that creationism is a theory. They regard literal interpretations of creation as mythology.

This is as true of conservatives as liberals.

To the moderators: I wonder who will get stepped on here. It seems that views about race, religion that are "conservative" always are allowed to leak in but a challenge will be criticized. Is this a gun forum or a "conservative" forum? I refer to another thread that went off on the threat of "minorities" and women's studies.
 
"Two San Francisco scientists..."

This is probably the most obsolete post ever on this forum.

Where has everyone been for the past 30 years? We learned this in Anthro 301 (Human Evolution) back in 1966.
 
TexasVet -- "The very term 'race' is a social term. It is not a scientific term [...] It belongs on the trash heap of psuedo-science with palm reading, phrenology, astrology and other mistakes."

Amen and Amen.

That is why I never fill in the blank marked "race" on any form. If the person collecting the data wants to make a guess, that's none of my affair.
 
There is much evidence about the existance of evolution, I don't think we will ever know everything, especially in the detail scientists claim to know. I ain't no liberal and already fell for the creation is science when I was in High School. All throughout history when the Bible is made into a book of science, that science is proven wrong. Many an educated person was considered a blasphomer when their discoveries seemed to contradict the Bible. I'm not saying the Bible is wrong, but maybe it should be considered a spiritual guide and not a scientific one. I personally don't see the conflict.
An educated person is not automatically liberal any more than an ignorant one is conservative.
 
"Sports clearly divide "races" whether we like it or not."

No, they divide people as per region and economic opportuntiy. To whit, there are more black football and basketball players because these sports are seen as a way out, they're promoted in schools and hence affordable. Would you say whites are better suited at tennis? To become a professional tennis player you need private coaches, expensive equipment and facilities not available to most people, therefore the sport has been dominated by middle and upper middle class whites. What about golf? Is this a white sport because blacks haven't garnered championships at the same rate as other groups. The Williams sisters and Tiger Woods demonstrate that tennis and golf are no more white sports than basketball is a black sport. There are far more variables involved in professional sports than ethnicity.

If your point is that professional sports have resulted in more disadvantageous for the average black, than I agree with you. By promoting sports over academics, holding out false promises of big money, and making heroes out of players instead of computer experts (etc. etc.), less and less young men, whether black or white, are looking to education as a viable alternative.

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"Get yourself a Lorcin and lose that nickel plated sissy pistol."
 
I think it is hogwash. If it were true then why would we not begin to see all people in the US have the same color of skin? Jerry
 
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