Zimmerman verdict: Not Guilty.

[gilbertc06]

That is my main gripe with the idea of race. It's based mostly on skin color rather than genetics.

It used to be based on skin colour, but it isn't any more. The articles I linked to made that quite clear I thought.

Now, onto the genetics. You wouldn't say that a muscular man and a very skinny man are different races based on that alone would you? Even if the skinny one had a very hard time gaining weight. It's just different genetics. So why would you separate other people based on skin color and a few facial differences? Can't you say that it's just a more obvious difference in genetics brought on by different conditions?

Everyone has different genetics, yes, but the point is, we can compare genetics of two people and see how different they are genetically. On average, two Caucasian individuals have less genetic difference between themselves than one Caucasian and one Asian individual for example. The differences may be subtle, but sometimes they are more obvious (for instance, Asian eyes are a more prominent difference, as well as their on average shorter stature). A lot of differences are less obvious, such as certain dietary requirements or other medical problems.

In that sense we are not at the core, any different from each other. We just show slight differences in genetics brought on by: climate, social, geographical, etc .

We're all human, and we can all breed with one another, yes. However, these "slight differences" in genetics do often have profound impacts. Everyone agrees that all breeds of dog are still dogs, but there are so many variations that to a person who had never seen dogs before, a Chihuahua would look a completely different species to a Great Dane.

People like to point out trivial things like how a traditional Japanese man would have bowel problems after eating lasagna for the first time. That is not indicative of race, that is simply diet differences. A dog can eat lasagna, you wouldn't ever call it a human being would you?

I think you are confusing terms. I've never actually heard that Japanese people cannot eat lasagna, but assuming it is true, just because Caucasian people can eat lasagna does not make Japanese people not human. They are still the same species, they are just a different race. Likewise, just because a dog can eat lasagna does not mean they are part of the human race. Genetically Caucasians and Japanese are closer to each other on a genetic level than they are with any other type of animal, but the fact that differences exist between them demonstrates that although they are of the same species, they are of different races within that species, just as a Chihuahua is the same species as a Great Dane but of a different breed entirely.

It's not just one difference (like diet) that makes a race; it is many different differences in the genome. There are enough differences between Caucasians and Japanese people (or any other type of race) that we can divide humanity into these groups we call races.

Assuming that all the above are true,

How would one go about navigating the world as humanely as possible? Would there not be more of a preference towards one "race" (assuming the differences you provided)?

By the way I think the differences are very malleable in that if you took the Japanese man and he had kids who only knew white American culture and only did white American practices then they would slowly but surely eventually start to assimilate (genetically) through generation after generation.