Human race destruction due to similarity?, page 1

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Topic started on 30-1-2012 @ 06:00 PM by s12345

Humanity has a large problem coming. Diversity allows the human race to survive catastrophic events, disease etc. However the human race is slowly breeding out diversity, soon everyone will have the same skin tone. For people who say that race doesn't exist them remember colour does and some other traits exist within certain groups/skin tones more than others. So as the human race gets more similar, we get more vulnerable: as everyone will be more closely related and have more shared dna. So this gives us a big problem as the human race is less vulnerable because of our differences than we ever could be more similar/more closely related. So where do we get more diversity from? We either have to genetically engineer more diverse traits in, or we are more likely to get wiped out.

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:07 PM by johnyelland1234

Hmm not sure I understand how if we became more similar, we would be more vulnerable...

I don't think it would brink about mankinds destruction in any case.

It's not really soon either, in order to 'blend' in all colours and diverse traits of everyone it's going to take a very long time.

I'll be long dead by then soooo winner

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:12 PM by s12345

It's the genetic diversity will reduce leaving us vulnerable to the same things. Thus if I die of something you are also more likely to.

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:21 PM by Openeye

reply to post by s12345

Do you have any evidence to support your theory?

This guy disagrees

. Prasad, a geneticist, writes about the science behind mixed-race people and asks whether or not their genetic diversity is beneficial: So are these differences significant and, more to the point, are they significant enough so that when they are brought together, there might be tangible benefits for people who are mixed-race? The answer from some scientists who still do what could be called “racial science” appears to be yes on both counts. Dr Mark Shriver, who studies human origins at Penn State University, is interested in ancestry, variations in skin and hair colour, facial features and height…. Shriver’s work has uncovered something else that is very interesting. He finds that mixed-race people are more symmetrical than the rest of us, and being more symmetrical translates into being more attractive, having less infection, being less stressed, and having greater genetic diversity. Professor Bill Amos at Cambridge University has also been studying the genetic basis of human disease. He finds that in humans, an individual’s level of genetic diversity can predict with astonishing accuracy how likely they are to survive parasites and infectious disease. In a recent study in Kenya, he found that low levels of diversity were strongly associated with death before the age of five. It’s always useful to know more about the science of anything. And such work provides a powerful counter to those who oppose mixed-race marriages because the children will be ‘wrong’, as the children will be genetically stronger. As Dr. Prasad puts it: When someone like me chooses a partner of another race, some family member is guaranteed to ask the same question as that Louisiana Justice of the Peace: “But what will the children be?”

So does this article

Telegraph

It seems most geneticists agree that diversity is beneficial.

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:31 PM by s12345

The effect your doctor talks about only works when we are not all related. If 1 people have parents one black, one white the effect you talk about vanishes the next generation, if they mate with a person black, white or both. the effect only exists for that 1 generation. If we all intermingle then the effect you are referring to will vanish completely. We rely upon not being too similar. I will find link for further information and post later.

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:36 PM by DetectiveT

I can sort of see what you are trying to say. Biology and genetics aren't exactly my specialty so I could be wrong but don't we carry all the stuff that our ancestors put into us as well? Like how certain diseases can skip generations and then manifest in a great grandchild. So lets a say a disease comes along and race x has a degree of immunity and my great great grand parents were race x isn't there the possibility that recessive trait would be present in me as well?

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:42 PM by s12345

I'm thinking more of non inherited disease, viruses and the like. It will however probably happen anyway. Maybe we need to genetically engineer more diversity???

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 06:50 PM by VoidHawk

If we're all the same then a disease that kills one will kill all.
Simple realy.

reply posted on 30-1-2012 @ 07:27 PM by AQuestion

reply to post by s12345

Dear s12345,

You are quite correct and there is some simple evolutionary theories that back you up. Ebola is a good example. Ebola has been known to have a high as a 90% fatality rate; however, some people are immune to it. We refer to these people as outliers. In order for a species to increase it's survival rate for anything you have to have outliers and that is at risk. As we scan fetuses for genetic abnormalities and abort the outliers we in fact decrease our chance for survival as a species.

Personally, I was born with a type of autism and a genetic anomaly that my mother carried. My triglycerides sit normally at just shy of 1,000. Normal is about 150 and at 500 you are considered very high, high risk. Mine is off the charts and I suffer no symptoms of anything. I also have more red blood cells than other people, a lot more. I have always wondered where such a thing might be beneficial, well, I can live at higher altitudes because of the extra blood cells and triglycerides are considered brain food, perhaps it helped me in school. At a minimum, I am in my 50s and it doesn't seem to have hurt me. Peace.

reply posted on 31-1-2012 @ 04:27 AM by JBRiddle

True you do need a diverse population to prevent inbreeding, which can cause a whole host of issues that I will not get into here. So just to put your mind at east allow me to share a little of my useless information with you.

According to Scientific studies of human genetics we know for a fact that at some point in human history that our numbers went from a few million people world wide to as few as 10,000 people in the last 10-20 thousand years.
And even with 10,000 of us left there is still plenty genetic diversity to go round.

Of course if you consider all the genetic defects that humans already have, poor eyesight, genetic disorders and such, perhaps we have let the gen pool get to small.

But personally I think the human race will be just fine.

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