One of my favorite recent studies shows that how there’s a lot (around 7-times) less genetic differentiation among human populations as there is among chimpanzees. This is a big deal for this is exactly how race is defined.

According to biology, a race is such a group whose members are genetically much more similar to one another as they are to members of all the other groups. In fact, among all Human populations around the World, no group has been found to differ so much from the others as to meet this very definition of race. In fact, all the groups were way off the necessary biological threshold.

The word necessary is quite an important one here for it’s not only differentiation in and of itself that matters. Another criterion for groups to be regarded races has it that these differences must also occur across sharp geographical boundaries. Again, chimps happen to nail this criterion too. And boy do they do so in some prodigious fashion! For instance, there are two groups of chimps that are separated only by a river, yet their genes differ more than those of Humans from different continents do.

Now, these findings reflect both how recent and how unusual our evolutionary history has been. First, after our exodus from Africa, we rapidly settled an enormous geographical range. And second, unlike the distinct populations of chimps, humans kept on exchanging both goods and genes with each other ever since the beginnings. Based on all this, Humans — least in the most fundamental sense possible — seem to just staunchly oppose any notion of race. Or putting it another way: Facts trump racism.

“ OK, so purely for the sake of staying reasonable, how about we just finally drop the word “racist”, and start using its closest synonym instead — that is a “sad self-abhorring slice of festering donkey crap”? ”

“ Hey, but wait a minute! Isn’t it in your opinion overly simplistic and disingenuous to dismiss a phenomenon as entrenched as racism just like this? ”

“ Are you serious!? NO!! ”

“ But see, the very fact that racism is so widespread is indication itself that there must be a substantial reason behind it. ”

“ Okay...!?? ”

“ You know there’s actually a number of theories for explanation. ”

“ Okay...? ”

“ First up, we have Group Selection. What it basically does is that it extends the classic Darwinian natural selection, from the level of individuals up to the level of groups. One of the most dramatic implications of Group Selection is that it bolsters up In-group preferences against individual ones. Like crazy! In fact, it does so to such and extent, that it rationalizes altruism even to the point of self-sacrifice. ”

“ A couple years back, Steven Pinker made a compelling case against group selection. To poke a hole in the theory, he conjured up a well-known example of self-sacrifice that is committed for the benefit of the group. The example involves bee workers who are going to suicidal lengths in order to protect their queens from demise. Now, this example is the usual poster-boy for Group Selection most commonly used by scientists and philosopher who argue in favor of the theory. Or better said hypothesis, because as it turns out it falls apart under close scrutiny. See, it just so happens that all the bees in a single hive share the same DNA. So in effect, they constitute a single biological organism. To put it in other words: when an individual bee kills itself in order to save the queen, it’s not actually suicide. ”

“ But more like what the guy does to himself to save his life in the movie 128 hours, right? ”

“ One-hundred and twenty-seven, exactly! So classic Darwinian natural selection alone seems to be enough to explain these acts of self-sacrifice. ”

“ Yeah, so Group Selection just doesn’t cut the mustard, right? ”

“ No it doesn’t. But hey, then again, there is also Germ Theory. And it’s all about that how much power diseases and germs have in shaping societies, cultures, and belief systems. A basic observation has it that many of the most conservative cultures happen to be native to areas where climate is hot and humid. ”

“ Yeah, and germs just looove hot and humid! ”

“ Exactly! So around those climates, contacting strangers might have been more of a threat because of the all the parasites they might harbor. ”

“ ... So they became assholes. ”

“ I would rather put it that they’ve basically traded some amount of openness for more security. By the way, Germ Theory has some nice parallels with the fairly recent Moral Foundation’s Theory by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. According to that theory, among a variety of foundations, Conservatives tend to hold the foundation “Purity” (also “Loyalty” and “Authority”) in much higher esteem than Liberals do. ”

“ OK! But if we’re so similar, how come different groups of people react to the same kinds of germs so differently? ”

“ Now, that’s a great question! And I can only engage in some wild and possibly idiotic speculation here. My best guess lies within our Gut Flora and our home-brew mixture of bacteria. See, those little guys have always been capable of evolving at a much faster pace than our DNA. And because of that, despite the remarkable unity of our species, they might have gone their own way quickly and grown us apart real fast. ”

“ Yeah... that definitely sounds a “little” shaky. Sorry! ”

“ I know...
But still, it’s really hard to ignore the conclusion of the array of genetic studies: “Human races” are NOT natural biological groups. And especially now that we have modern medicine, and means for communication, race for the most part remains a distinctly social and cultural construct. Yet despite all this, racism somehow doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo as it keeps on devastating the lives of many millions around the World. So we don’t need to deal with racism because race is grounded in reality, but we’ve gotta keep on doing so despite that it is not. ”

“ Yeah, and it’s not even the case that all our similarity aside, some folks around the World had some kind of special features that would make them look really different and thus hard to relate to. You know: like having three legs with one sticking right out of their stomachs. Actually, that would be a bit weird I give you that one. Still, they might make terrific members on some of the Olympics teams. (Probably not so much in the 100m hurdles, though.) ”

“ But that just patently happens not to be the case. Apart from things like slight variations in body tone and skin color, pretty much all the folks around the World look just as boring as I do. And it is this boredom that unites us, the Human Race.
Isn’t that... ummm... exhilarating!? ”

“ Alright, but let’s just not forget what’s most important here: even if races existed that still wouldn’t justify us being total assholes to each other. ”

“ True. ”

“ Hey, I’m finished just yet! ”

“ Huh, are you not? :) ”

“ Yeah, cos’ being a racist you know is not only unreasonable, and an extremely douchy thing, but it’s also painfully unimaginative. C’mon, you can do so much better than that! And not only that but it’s also just totally unfair to those who are out there day-in-and-day-out giving a 100% to achieve assholeness on their own. ”

“ Adding to it, I would also encourage everyone out there to find their own unique ways of scaling all the depths of social acceptability. ”

“ Alternatively, you can spare yourself all this conundrum by simply choosing not to be a racist. ”

“ You must mean, a “sad self-abhorring slice of festering donkey crap”, right!? ”