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Darwin Day is a celebration of Charles Darwin's birthday, the theory of evolution and science in general. This year marks his 210th birthday and 160 years since the publication of The Origin of Species. Those looking to celebrate or learn more about Darwin and evolution will find a wealth of events going on, or if you'd rather not leave the house, try a Darwin Day card with designs generated by simulated evolution.
Recently, an important finding in man's evolution was announced; the so-called Missing Link was confirmed. Australopithecus Sediba fossils were found in 2010 but it took a decade of research and debate for scientists to confirm that this was indeed the missing link that connects man's evolution in an unbroken chain back to primate ancestors.
Not everyone is down with Darwin. The Pew Research Center reports, "In spite of the fact that evolutionary theory is accepted by all but a small number of scientists, it continues to be rejected by many Americans. In fact, about one-in-five U.S. adults reject the basic idea that life on Earth has evolved at all." In Indiana, senator Dennis Kruse introduced a bill that would, among other things, "require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science."
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday February 11 2019, @07:33PM (2 children)
He is not arguing, he is summarizing a huge amount of scientific literature on the matter of race. If you want to have a debate, really, it is unfair to expect everyone else to put an increasing amount of effort into educating you while you don't make any efforts otherwise. So here is my solution:
Q1. What defines a race according to you?
Q2. How many races there are? You can give vague numbers like "more than 100", but give us a number.
Q3. If you gave a finite answer to Q2, list those races. If you gave a vague number, list 5 races and 5 groups of people you don't consider a race.
After you have answered the above 3 questions we will know how much effort is needed, and I am sure there will be some people who have that much time and energy.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday February 11 2019, @08:26PM (1 child)
It doesn't really matter.
For alt-right types like VLM, it's all motte and bailey.
"You can generate estimated regional origin based on full genome sequencing"(which is mostly true, but with serious caveats they will never, ever acknowledge) is what they want you to agree is possible, and as soon as you do, it's equated to completely unsubstantiated(and, in fact, genuinely contraindicated by their own favorite research on the subject if you read past the abstracts*) claims about IQ being derived from skin color. They push a narrative of some small measures of genetic diversity being real in order to wedge in completely false narratives for the pliable.
And they will never ever ever ever ever ever admit to being wrong. Because their worldview is built on excusing their very personal failures as individuals by suggesting some vague group they belong to is better than some other vague group. It's also why they fixate on "western civilization" despite the broad swath of that philosophical tradition owed entirely to other cultures(and the term itself being vague to near the point of uselessness).
VLM is a waste of a human being, and the things he says about race and culture have more to do with that than anything based on serious analysis of anything.
*No really, their GWAS of all polymorphisms in a population sample of 100,000 could only attribute 20% of variation in intelligence to genes (including interactive) effects in healthy individuals, but the abstracts by these fucks still say surely it's all in genes, twin studies said so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:23AM
VLM does not exist, since I cannot buy him from a bin at Home Despot.