Ethnicity: Europeans & Asians - What Would Happen?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mreq
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Earth
AI Thread Summary
The discussion explores the hypothetical scenario of Europeans living in Asia and vice versa over a long period. It emphasizes that while environmental factors can influence physical traits, they do not solely determine appearance. If Europeans were to migrate to Asia, they would likely retain distinct features despite potential adaptations to the new environment. The conversation highlights that some traits may evolve similarly due to adaptation, but mutations would occur unpredictably and differ from those seen in historical Asian populations. Additionally, the discussion touches on evolutionary adaptations to climate, noting that certain facial features in populations have developed in response to environmental conditions, such as shorter ears and less pronounced noses in colder climates, which serve to reduce frostbite risk. Overall, the conversation underscores the complexity of human evolution and the interplay between environment, adaptation, and genetic mutation.
mreq
Messages
77
Reaction score
0
Hy. What would happen if the european people would live in Asia. They would look asians ?
And vice versa. This on large scale of time!
Thanks!
 
Earth sciences news on Phys.org
All would continue to look human.
 
Well, the environment we live in has some influence on our appearance I don't believe it has the same amount of influence as suggested in the original post.
 
If you mean that recent Europeans would move to Asia now and would continue to evolve there, over a long period, they would still look and be different. Some traits may evolve similar to Asians, but adaptation to the present environment would for sure give different results. Besides adaptation, some mutations may happen over time and these are completely unpredictable and not related to the environment. The surviving mutations would be almost certainly be different form the ones that have survived in Asians in the past.
 
Technology and social customs attending it has made such weather influences irrelevant.
 
Radrook said:
Technology and social customs attending it has made such weather influences irrelevant.
Weather influences? What weather influences? Please explain.
 
I guess Radrook may be hinting at the idea that some face features evolved as a response to low temperatures. If you compare faces of Asians living far north with faces of Europeans, their ears are shorter and less sticking out and their noses are less pointy. All in all their heads are more spherical. This is evolutionary answer to freezing temperatures - it is less possible to got a frostbite when something is less exposed.
 
Back
Top