What is the connection between race and species?

Question

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I could have worded this question better, but I don't want to offend anyone. If you get offended easilly by this topic, please stop reading now. You have been warned. I already posted the question I'm about to ask you, and it got deleted. I'm not sure why it was delete, but I think it's a valid question. I'm sorry that it might seem politically incorrect. I'll agree that it could stir up emotions, so I'd like to say that this question is not intened to offend anyone. Last time I posted this, all I got were a bunch of 1 line "Your a racist" or "we're all human" or "no, they aren't" responses. Please read the whole question and only give well reasoned out answers. Thanks for your understanding and maturity.

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So the real question is "Are black Sub-Saharan Africans more closely related to great apes than other humans" Note that I'm not asking of black people ARE apes. I'm only asking if there is evidence that they are slightly (by a few base pairs or so) closer. Scientifically, this seems likely to be the case. Here is why:

Humans split of from the line that lead to chimpanzees 5-7 million years ago. Chimpanzees and humans are very closely related (95% of their DNA sequence, and 99% of coding DNA sequences are in common. Changes in environmental conditions are what lead to changes in evolution. About 100,000 homo sapiens left the continent of Africa.

- 100,000 is one 50th of 5,000,000.
- .2% / 100,000 years = 0.000002 % change in DNA per year since humans left Africa
- 5,000,000 * 0.000002 % change in DNA per year = 10%

Now chimpanzees are not the same as the anscestors of humans and modern chimpanzees, but It appears that evolution speed up when people left Africa. Is it not safe to say that Africans are slightly closer to the great apes then other humans? Why would africans have adapted a lot if they remained in their same environment. Why should I not assume that the anscestors of Asians and Europeans were at one point living in Africa, and that these Africans were, well, Africans.

There have probably been about the been the same number of generations in Africa as elsewhere, but the number of generations is not what causes evolutionary changes. Horseshoe crabs, for example, have changed very little over the past 445 million years. Changes in environment or the ecosystem are what lead to changes in Evolution.

Answer 1

Here's the difference: "Species" is a valid classification term, and it has a specific definition. "Race" is not on both counts. Modern biology and taxonomy do not recognize "race" or "subspecies."



Here's something else to keep in mind. The African population is not genetically homogenous. There are certain markers that might tell you a person is African, but these markers are not the totality of variation. Additionally, apes don't only live in Africa. They live in a lots of different places. There are humans besides Africans who have been subject to the same evolutionary pressures that apes have (this is what you're essentially asking about, as I see it), so that complicates your premise a great deal.



The real answer is that Africans are humans beings like the rest of us, and however closely your average person from Africa is related to a chimp, ape, or gibbon, they are MORE closely related to you and the rest of the humans on the planet. Genetics and statistics are both unambiguously clear on that.

Answer 2

All humans living today seem to have arisen from a small group of 600 or so breeding adults, humans were nearly extinct some thousands of years ago. Then something happened that caused them to spread across the Planet rapidly. ? what? global warming or the last great ice age or jesus?

This has been suggested because there is little genetic variation between human to human (regardless or where they are from) versus chimp to chimp or monkey to monkey or horse to horse .....--some even suggest blood types are better indicators of human difference than physical appearance or geographic origins.



Your argument is off a great deal do some studying of the science and you might even be able to understand. Horseshoe crabs change little science their niche is pretty much the same and there's no (darwinian) pressure for them to change.

Answer 3

I think sports fans, gun collectors, Christians, and alcoholics are closer to apes than the rest of the human species.