[ExI] it's your choice

[Keith Henson]

<spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

> Keith, sensa huma, me lad.

Some of this stuff is *not* funny.

> We know how race is used in our modern world,
but at some point we must recognize that we moderns are in a rather absurd
situation where gender is a choice but race is not.

Gender reassignment (Christine Jorgensen) has been a reality since I
was ten years old.  As you point out, it does not change whatever sex
chromosomes a person has.

> Clearly everyone is a mixture of races.

Only if you completely ignore the definition of the word.

"A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social
qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society."
(Wikipedia)

Races came about from the common selection of a group over a long
enough time for certain patterns of genes to become common.  In some
cases, the groups have existed for 200,000 years or more.

And everyone is *not* a mix of present-day races.

> That one really is ambiguous.  A few of us (perhaps a
tenth of a percent) are genetically ambiguous gender (trisomy or ring
chromosome 13) but for everyone else, it is either XX or XY.

You left out 47,XXX, 47,XXY, 47,XYY and 48,XXYY plus some other rare cases.

> But most of us have ancestors from all over.

If you intend "us* to mean humans, I doubt it.  The vast majority of
Chinese are not of mixed origin.  Neither are most of the Europeans.
That's is a US pattern and more generally places the Europeans
(particularly the northwest Europeans) colonized.  You might note that
the Europeans did not do well in the tropics.  They were selected for
other characteristics than parasite resistance.

> If you do just the 60 dollar
DNA test, you can see that, and if you have a friend interested in this
sorta thing, you can find out all kindsa cool stuff, including. most of us
are a mixture of what we are now calling races, which are multiplying daily
it seems.

23andMe claims that I am 100% whitebread.  Big deal.  I clearly lack
the genes to accumulate wealth.

> So now we are in a society where men can compete in womens' sports, where gender is a choice but one cannot change by choice from one's assigned race?  Indeed?  Of course we can.  Anything represented anywhere in our DNA is among our choices.  I know of no rule that specifies we are always stuck
with the majority race found in our DNA, and know examples where
people have been assigned against their will to a trace of their DNA
content.

You cannot change your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.
Where you came from is significant because in some places (northwest
Europe, China, Japan) there has been substantial selection for the
characteristics that made them able to host the industrial revolution
and (for a while) dominate the world.  Read Clark for the evidence
that our UK ancestors were under intense selection for at least 400
years.

Clark points out that the selection pressures were really odd in the
UK.  The "stable agrarian society" selected for a very different set
of characteristics from places where parasite resistance was more
important than literacy or impulse control.

I was amazed to find that about 6000 genes (out of 20,000) are thought
to be involved in RNA or DNA virus resistance.  Tropical parasite
resistance might involve even more genes.

> Are we really now in a place where gender is a choice but race is not?

DNA gender is not a choice, neither are your parents or your genetic
selection history.

> I recommend that people do one of those DNA tests.

They certainly do lead to some strange places.  For example, I am
related to one Donald Funcannon through Nancy (born 1796), a sister of
John Henson, my ggg grandfather.  Her life was interesting enough to
have left tracks, including mixed-race children.  I should put more
effort into finding some of the papers and perhaps more of her
descendants.

I think you mentioned your mixed-race ancestry was 5 generations back.
I am more Neanderthal (different species!) than you are mixed from
that event.  It would be silly, but I could claim to be Neanderthal to
the same extent you are (fallaciously?) are claiming to be African.

Keith

PS.  If you project into the future far enough, then forget minor
stuff like changing gender.  Changing species will be an option.