Quantum Anthropological Leap (Part 3)

This information is taken from a recent article in Scientific American:

To determine the degree of relatedness among groups, geneticists rely on tiny variations, or polymorphisms in the DNA — specifically in the sequence of base pairs, the building blocks of DNA. Most of these polymorphisms do not occur within genes, stretches of DNA that encode the information for making proteins (the molecules that constitute much of our bodies and carry out the chemical reactions of life). Accordingly, these common variations are neutral, in that they do not directly affect a particular trait. Some polymorphisms do occur in genes, however; these can contribute to individual variation in traits and to genetic diseases...

...Polymorphisms that occur at different frequencies around the world can, however, be used to sort people roughly into groups. One useful class of polymorphisms consists of Alus, short pieces of DNA that are similar in sequence to one another.... if two people have the same Alu sequence at the same spot in their genome, they must be descended from a common ancestor who gave them that specific segment of DNA...

...Noah A. Rosenberg and Jonathan K. Pritchard, geneticists formerly in the laboratory of Marcus W. Feldman of Stanford University, assayed approximately 375 polymorphisms called short tandem repeats in more than 1,000 people from 52 ethnic groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. By looking at the varying frequencies of these polymorphisms, they were able to distinguish five different groups of people whose ancestors were typically isolated by oceans, deserts or mountains: sub-Saharan Africans; Europeans and Asians west of the Himalayas; East Asians; inhabitants of New Guinea and Melanesia; and Native Americans. They were also able to identify subgroups within each member's self-reported ethnicity...

Does Race Exist? Michael J. Bamshad and Steve E. Olson in
Scientific American, pages 78-85; December 2003

The conclusions of this article are as follows:

1. The outward signs on which most definitions of race are based — such as skin colour and hair texture — are dictated by a handful of genes. Genetic differences within the same race are often more pronounced than those between races.
2. Races do not exist if they are defined as genetically discrete groups, but researchers can use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance.
3. Despite the need for caution, scientists can use genetics to sort most large populations according to their ancestral geographic origin. This approach does not work well for populations resulting from recent mixing with other groups, such as in multiethnic societies, for instance.

Where you are from, greatly determines who you are. If your ancestors came esclusively from Germany, you can be broadly placed into a common race to which most Western and Eastern Europeans belong, as well as most North Africans and Middle Easterners.

If your ancestors came esclusively from China, you can be broadly placed into a common race to which most East Asians belong.

If your ancestors came esclusively from Rwanda, you can be broadly placed into a common race to which most sub-Saharan Africans belong (there seem to be two distinct African races, however, one consisting almost entirely of Mbuti Pygmies).

If your ancestors came esclusively from New Guinea, you can be broadly placed into a common race to which most New Guineans and probably most Pacific Islanders belong.

If your ancestors came esclusively from Native American tribes that have not intermingled with local Whites, Blacks, or Orientals, you can be broadly placed into a common race to which many Native Americans belong.

Things are probably more complicated than that when one looks at places like India, and in multicultural societies, but there is something that can be very broadly defined as race, and there seems to be at least a White, Yellow, Black, Brown, and Red race.

If your ancestors came esclusively from New Guinea, we know you are a proud member of the Brown race — people of this race seem to have developed agriculture even before it was developed in the Middle East, and this fact has some interesting anthropological implications! If your ancestors didn't come from a distinctive place, however, and yet they seem extremely brainy, and seem to show a certain commonly perceived phenotype, rather than a commonly perceived genotype, then what race are they? (This race is probably not exclusively White from a genotype perspective, but it does seem to be composed primarily of High IQ White persons, and it must be a separate race being born at this moment, since members of this race have average IQs of 130).

Let's make this question easier to answer. Lets say that your parents were among the first to "migrate" to an area called the Worldwide Web (WWW), and perhaps they are among the most involved developers of this area, and they have even started to identify themselves with this area almost like it were their place of birth. What is their race? Well, it's the Indigo race!

Race No.	Racial Group (Genotype/Phenotype)	Indigenous Continent or Area	Geo-Racial Adjective	Race (Ancient Name)
1.	Europeans & Asians west of the Himalayas	W/E Europe, N Africa, & Middle E	Westerner/Easterner, Turk, Arab, Iranian	White (Blue)
2.	East Asians	E Asia	Oriental	Yellow
3.	Sub-Saharan Africans	Africa	African	Black (Indigo)
4.	New Guineans & Melanesians	Oceania	Melanesian/Pacific Islander	Brown
5.	Native Americans	N/S America	Indians	Red
6.	Native Webians	Worldwide Web	Webians	Indigo (Violet)