[allmendream]

There are not three distinct races. Residual traces of what? The genes that put melanin in the skin? There most certainly are “residual traces” in that the genes work perfectly in the blackest of black people, and they work less so in the whitest of white people, and not at all in an albino.

Why are the races so distinct from each other? Genetically they are not, we are a very homologous species as far as DNA similarity goes, but there are obvious differences that are mostly “skin deep” as it were.

Why do you think a black person in Africa who goes half naked every day is more susceptible to sunburn than an Irish red head who freckles and burns in 15 minutes? Someone told you that once and you accept it without any more evidence, despite any and all other evidence?

There is such a thing as genetic variation, and there is a lot more of it in Africa than elsewhere. Why would you suppose they would all be the same any more than that your average Norwegian and your average Italian would be same in amount of melanin content in the skin?

So what mechanism do YOU propose is responsible for population differences?

[ReverendJames]

First things first. What do you mean by There are not three distinct races.

Is not black a race? Is not white a race? Is not mongoloid a race? What does the term 'race' mean to you?

[muawiyah]

Don't rely too much on the genetic diversity argument. The analysts who determined that DNA shows that the European and Asian ancestry is predominantly that of the San People in Africa ALSO found that there are only 14 major haplogroups in Africa, one of which is that of the San People. The San, in turn are the source of the other 13 groups.

So, let's say there's one race ~ the San People ~ all that does is cut us off from the differences in the other 13 main haplogroups, plus the various subgroups in the Northern hemisphere.

Interesting that ONE offshoot of the San ~ the folks who moved out of Africa some 75,000 years ago, constitutes about 85% of modern humans!

Does that mean that Africa is not good for us? Or does that say something about us?

[aruanan]

There most certainly are “residual traces” in that the genes work perfectly in the blackest of black people, and they work less so in the whitest of white people, and not at all in an albino.

The genes work perfectly well in both light and dark people. It takes about 1000 years before skin color starts to shift lighter or darker in a population depending on where it moves to.