Does RACE exist?

[Ben Kenobi]

Where does one delineate the boundaries of race? Race is a relative measure, one can be more white, or brown, or yellow when compared to someone else, yet there can be no one who is the proper white, or brown or black or yellow.

[Flip McWho]

Well yes race exists. The real question is does it matter.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
I think we define races by looking at many different genetic characteristics, and not only skin color. If there are no races for humans, then there are no races for dogs, horses, cats. etc.

Define what differentiates "race."

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Uber KruX
it's not just skin color, it's a complte set of physical features.

So? There's a continuous spectrum spanning from end to end. The division of "race" is simply arbitrary.

[Space05us]

race exists, but who cares?

[Proteus_MST]

Yep. Race exists.

It´s mainly physical appearance, but not only.
For example the Japanese are known to have a genetically caused lack of ADH (Alcohol Dehydrogenase) which means that they are more likely that they get a hangover if they drink Alcohol.

There are also Indios which live in great heights and have much more hemoglibine to make up for the lack of oxygene. But in this case I don´t know if this is genetically fixated or just the result of being raised from earliest childhood in this environment.

[Flip McWho]

Space05us has it right... who cares?

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


So? There's a continuous spectrum spanning from end to end. The division of "race" is simply arbitrary.

Yes, the divisions are arbitrary. But a lot of divisions are arbitrary. I could say that there are no wealthy people, because whatever divides upper and middle class is an arbitrary division, if I'm allowed to use that logic.

[East Street Trader]

Categorizing human beings as belonging to one race or another is a perfectly sensible thing to do. But it gets associated with a bunch of unattractive things such as xenophobia, racial prejudice and fascist super-race ideas. So that "racism" and "racist" are perjorative terms.

It is natural to break larger groups down into smaller categories. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. It is done in the search for understanding and to facilitate discussion and the exchange of ideas. The existence of unpleasant stuff like racial prejudice is not a reason to abandon categories.

For some reason the process whereby neutral language becoming loaded with pejorative overtones is particularly common in those areas where societies have been seeking to foster equality. Thus the word "discriminate" is a wholly neutral, and useful, word. It describes the process of distinguishing between different things. But it is now rather awkward to use the word in that way. Because it is so closely associated with adverse discrimination on those specific grounds which various societies consider damaging - sex, race and (more recently) state of health, age, sexual orientation and religion. It has become a loaded word, loaded with negative associations.

[Buck Birdseed]

Even if there's no rational basis for defining the boundaries of a certain race society, in practice, does create and maintain racial categories. We can't solve the problem of discrimination between them by ignoring their existence!

[Az]

there are different features, but it doesn't really matter.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jaguar Warrior
Yes, the divisions are arbitrary. But a lot of divisions are arbitrary. I could say that there are no wealthy people, because whatever divides upper and middle class is an arbitrary division, if I'm allowed to use that logic.

Not so. Wealth makes material difference in a society, 'race" does not.

[Ben Kenobi]

East Street:

You are right that science will often make attempts to categorise information, in models, but the one feature in common with all models, is that they simplify the subject matter. One must never confuse the model with reality.

[Jaguar]

Obviously this post is in reply to UR, but Ben got a reply off in between our posts.

Well actually, it kinda does, what with white people being richer than black people and all, but I assume that wasn't what you meant.

How about this then? There are no colors. Whatever division you choose between red and orange is arbitrary, and how come you don't allow for reddish orange, and if you do, how come you don't allow for reddish orange erring more on the red side, etc.

[Proteus_MST]

Racism could be something which diminishes with time if the humans continue to survive.

That´s because (according to some predictions of Scientists) the Races will mix more and more, as any geographic (and also cultural) Boundaries which more or less separated the Races in the past will play a much smaller role in the future.
So that at one point, a few hundred years in the future, there might just be one Race with slightly darker skin than that of the average european or american "White"