Is There a Most Evolved Race Among Humans?

[jimmy1200]

Is There A More Evolved Race?

you always here about blacks being the natural athletes and what not. I am sure you see a lot of asians being very flexible, but i wanted to know if physically speaking, there were a more evolved race out of the bunch of us. has there been any research done about this.

 

[Gonzolo]

"Evolved" has no meaning in a general context. If you live in the cold, you are better off being fat, if you live in the sun, you are better off having dark skin, if you have to run away from carnivores, you are better off being quick. In each of these cases, the most evolved are walruses, furry animals, and perhaps gazelles or birds. Each are way more evolved than humans in their respective homelands. The word "race" itself is better left to describe dog breeds.

 

[Moonbear]

"Evolved" has no meaning in a general context. If you live in the cold, you are better off being fat, if you live in the sun, you are better off having dark skin, if you have to run away from carnivores, you are better off being quick. In each of these cases, the most evolved are walruses, furry animals, and perhaps gazelles or birds. Each are way more evolved than humans in their respective homelands. The word "race" itself is better left to describe dog breeds.

You got it. There's no such thing as being "more" or "less" evolved. Evolution is a process, not a unit. Trying to make such a comparison demonstrates a lack of understanding about what evolution means and how it happens. There are numerous threads here about evolution; read through them and see if that helps clarify some of your understanding about the process.

 

[Phobos]

As noted above, evolution has no goal/no higher level. Evolution is not a ladder to be climbed. It is a process of change in life forms. Of course, some organisms are more complex than others (good luck quantifying that) and some organisms are better suited to particular tasks/environments/etc. than others. But overall, scientists don't measure more/less "evolved".

 

[kalladin]

you always here about blacks being the natural athletes and what not. I am sure you see a lot of asians being very flexible, but i wanted to know if physically speaking, there were a more evolved race out of the bunch of us. has there been any research done about this.

When you say "black people" are natural atheletes, this is not necessarily true as there are other factors to include such as socialism.

 

[Dayle Record]

By this logic, we should get Evo to post in this thread, since five of the seven letters in Evolved appear in Evo's name. I think that using this logic, I could say that Evo is the most evolved person here at PF. I just noticed how evolved, when mixed up, almost spells Loved Eve, just one E shy of it. I know that must mean something. I am not evolved enough to figure it out.

 

[MNRob]

Determining what race is the most physically evolved would be based on opinion - it's not really a question to be answered by scientific research. Maybe you're asking what race is phyiscally the latest version.

Most scientists agree that the first human was a dark-skinned person from Africa - so Africans would be the first version. Africans are the most genetically diverse race on earth, which makes sense because they've been around the longest. One of the groups of people with the least amount of genetic diversity are the Norwegians, so it's a good chance they are one of the latest anatomical versions of the human race.

 

[quasi426]

I would have to agree with the rest of the posting regarding the quantification of evolution. There are many solutions to the problem of life even in the SAME environment.

 

[Evo]

By this logic, we should get Evo to post in this thread, since five of the seven letters in Evolved appear in Evo's name. I think that using this logic, I could say that Evo is the most evolved person here at PF. I just noticed how evolved, when mixed up, almost spells Loved Eve, just one E shy of it. I know that must mean something. I am not evolved enough to figure it out.

 

[Phobos]

check out this statement from the American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

...there is greater variation within "racial" groups than between them.

 

[selfAdjoint]

check out this statement from the American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm

Umm, the American Anthropological Association is well known to have a parti-pris on questions of race. And the "greater variation within than between" doesn't mean a thing. The variation in upper body strength within males and within females is greater than the difference in average body strength between the sexes, but that doesn't mean that males don't have significantly greater upper body strength than women.

 

[Phobos]

Umm, the American Anthropological Association is well known to have a parti-pris on questions of race.

They do? Interesting. Examples? (ok to PM me if this is getting off-track)

And the "greater variation within than between" doesn't mean a thing. The variation in upper body strength within males and within females is greater than the difference in average body strength between the sexes, but that doesn't mean that males don't have significantly greater upper body strength than women.

A good point. Ah, statistics...

 

[Gold Barz]

Most scientists agree that the first human was a dark-skinned person from Africa - so Africans would be the first version. Africans are the most genetically diverse race on earth, which makes sense because they've been around the longest. One of the groups of people with the least amount of genetic diversity are the Norwegians, so it's a good chance they are one of the latest anatomical versions of the human race.

Wow, that's some interesting stuff..