Are other races more evolved than Blacks?

[I_am_not_mafia]

The original humans, who evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, were most likely black. Does this mean that other races are more evolved than Blacks?

No.

The human species has changed in a multitude of ways, not just in terms of skin colour. Selection pressure pushes a species to adapt more to a specific environment. White skin colour is better suited for colder climates where there is less risk of sun cancer but a greater risk of Vitamin D deficiency. Black skin is more suited to climates where the opposite is the case.

The Red Queen effect also tells us that previous adaptations can be lost and gained again with co-evolution. Evolution is not a linear progression. It is the environment that determines how well something is evolved and the environment is always changing. A species can also end up in an evolutionary dead-end, such as the peacock's tail, where it has evolved too far in one direction and cannot devolve first to then subsequently adapt in different ways.

[paulpablo]

The original humans, who evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, were most likely black. Does this mean that other races are more evolved than Blacks?

10 out of 10 for a question that's going to cause shock.  I don't know if the expression more evolved is correct but it definitely makes the question ten times more controversial. 

If evolution is taken to mean gradual change in heritable characteristics then it's possible that black people have evolved/changed less simply because of a change not being necessary.  Since they're in the same climate as earlier humans. Their skin color, body fat percentage, nose shape is probably similar to earlier humans than white people, who have characteristics relatively better suited for non tropical climates. 

What might be a complication is that I think I heard that earlier human like remains have been found elsewhere other than Africa.  Also this is assuming that human ancestors are evolved in tropical areas. I think that is most likely since apes are all tropical animals as far as I know. 

Also, if evolution is taken to mean something that can be measured in terms of less or more evolved than it probably wouldn't have the implications that some people might think.  There's probably some insects or birds that have gone through more evolutionary changes than any ape and would be considered to be "more evolved" than humans.  If you take "more evolved" to mean having gone through more changes inbetween their state now and their common ancestor.

[robvalue]

I'm interested in what the point of this question is. Is it just a curiosity?

[zebo-the-fat]

What about people with brown hair, how is that different from brown skin??

[Clueless Morgan]

White skin colour is better suited for colder climates where there is less risk of sun cancer but a greater risk of Vitamin D deficiency.

Sun cancer isn't a thing. Do you mean skin cancer?

Also, a recent (a couple years ago) study was done that found that two solutions seemed to evolve to solve the vitamin D deficiency problem: lightening skin and the ability to digest milk.

The same study also shows that in areas of Europe such as Spain and Hungary, dark(er) skin was predominate as recently as 8,000 years ago so the evolution of lighter skin isn't quite as simple as "it lightened progressively the further north humans ranged." It is true that humans in the far north evolved lighter skin to promote better vitamin D synthesis, but it also seems to be the case that Europe only "lightened" to what we call "white skin" now by interbreeding with these very fair far-northerners. Otherwise, Europe was a very mixed bag of skin tones until fairly (no pun intended) recently.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/04/h...white-skin

[The Grand Nudger]

If evolution is taken to mean gradual change in heritable characteristics then it's possible that black people have evolved/changed less simply because of a change not being necessary.  Since they're in the same climate as earlier humans.

That one falls apart with the realization that they are -not- in the same climate (or more broadly environment) that humans originally evolved in.  We didn;t wander out of africa just for funsies.  The place went to shit.

[CapnAwesome]

The original humans, who evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, were most likely black. Does this mean that other races are more evolved than Blacks?

Shut the fuck up.

[Clueless Morgan]

If evolution is taken to mean gradual change in heritable characteristics then it's possible that black people have evolved/changed less simply because of a change not being necessary.  Since they're in the same climate as earlier humans.

Except that there's more genetic diversity among dark-skinned Africans than there is among lighter-skinned people. So while it's true to say that we differ in skin color, it could also be argued, per the logic of the OP, that dark-skinned Africans are more evolved because they have more genetic diversity overall.

[Alexmahone]

The original humans, who evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, were most likely black. Does this mean that other races are more evolved than Blacks?

Shut the fuck up.

It's a biology question for god's sake! My point was just that other races seem to have evolved/changed more than blacks relative to our common ancestors.

[I_am_not_mafia]

White skin colour is better suited for colder climates where there is less risk of sun cancer but a greater risk of Vitamin D deficiency.

Sun cancer isn't a thing. Do you mean skin cancer?

Sorry thought I said skin cancer. No idea why I typed sun cancer. Bizarre.