Racial Differences are Adaptive

It is funny to see scholars dance around racial issues, trying not to offend anyone.

Interview:

Alexander Rosenberg is an American philosopher and novelist. He is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University with secondary appointments in the biology and political science departments. He is also co-director of Duke’s Center for the Philosophy of Biology. ...

[Q]skin color 5:15 is is one characteristic the question is 5:17 is there a a constellation of of uh of 5:21 characteristics that together make up 5:24 differential racial groups?

[A]simple answer 5:26 to that is no.

This is after explaining that human differences in skin color and lactose tolerance are adaptive.

The fact is that DNA tests can identify a person's race, and it is reliably similar to how the person self-identifies, and is identified as others. So plainly there is a constellation of characteristics that identify race.

He tries to imply that the science of racial characheristics is disproved by skin color being adaptive. But evolution teaches that nearly all life characteristics are heritable, and adaptive.

what we 1:09 as consumers of biology have learned us 1:12 philosophers is that molecular biology 1:14 and evolutionary molecular biology 1:17 teaches us that um there's almost no 1:21 scope in fact no scope I'd say uh in 1:24 explanation of interesting features of 1:28 uh human population ations that require 1:32 or even aduce the concept of race what 1:36 we've learned from particularly the 1:38 sequencing of Neanderthal genes and 1:41 human genes across the planet uh is the 1:46 remarkable homogeneity of uh human 1:51 genetic inheritance and the complete 1:53 absence of systematic differences that 1:56 have any material reflection in um uh 2:01 social behavior human institutions uh or 2:04 even our adaptation to our environment

They certainly found systematic differences. Europeans and Asians have Neanderthal genes, while Africans do not. Is that difference reflected in social behavior? That is hard to answer.

[Q] let me get 7:05 practical in the question of uh of race 7:08 because it it it it feels better to have 7:12 no real to have race not being grounded 7:16 in reality it feels better now that is U 7:20 that's that's that's an emotion we 7:21 should be aware of and I think that's a 7:23 good emotion um but that doesn't make it 7:26 right. what makes it right is the what is 7:29 is real in terms of the molecular 7:31 biology and how it works

The interview goes on to give examples of racial differences in medicine.

[A] there are of course natural 8:54 bell-shape Curves in the distribution of 8:57 of all traits in various populations 9:00 are longterm environmental 9:03 factors that will tend to shape certain 9:07 genes as more prevalent in some 9:09 communities than others. so sickle cell 9:11 disease is a perfect example of 9:13 something that's characteristic of 9:16 African 9:18 Americans okay uh carried over from uh 9:22 uh the middle passage from from Africa 9:26 okay but these kind of traits do not 9:28 reflect anything distinctive of races

So the disease is characteristic of one race, but not something distinctive?

He is really trying hard to give the answers that feel better.

Neanderthals survived several Ice Ages, and they must have developed traits to help them survive. It is plausible that some of those traits are reflected in genes that are still inherited today.