I tried to post this earlier but the server conked out on me.

Advanced apologies if this is too academic for the forum but this is an interesting discussion that touches on aspects of my training and profession.

In terms of science. There is no legitimate scientific basis for race as it is conceived today. More specifically, there is no scientifically verifiable basis for the geographic racial categories we use today.

In fact, the concept of race we use today is a modern conceptualization of a notion that gained widespread application in the late 19th century. Even so, the concept of race has been adapted to many different interpretations. According to the general concept of race in the United States, Native American or Indian might be considered a racial type. However, members of different tribes will tell you they are different races than other tribes. Irish or Eastern Europeans were considered a different race from Anglo Saxons in the United States in the past, but would all be subsumed under the "white race" today. Race is a social construct that has no empirically verifiable basis in terms of genetics.

This is not the view of myself or a small group of scientists, the global scientific community has drafted and ratified a statement about race and science. Those that are curious can PM me and I will give a link and/or send you a copy of the statement.

There is one, single human genotype. Meaning we all have the same basic genetic makeup. Any differences are due to the natural history of particular breeding populations. The noticeable differences, such as skin color, adaptations such as increased lung capacity among Andean populations, and other traits that are often tracked as "race" are phenotypic responses to enviromental conditions. There is not a fundamental genetic difference between people of different "races."

In statistical terms, there is more variation within racial categories than between them. That means in the real world that you can't parse out geographical races via the human genome.

There is no scientific evidence that has survived rigorous testing and scrutiny that supports the notion that different races are genetically pre-disposed to any physical or psychological traits.

It has been demonstrated that the phenotypic characteristics that we track as "race" are variable through time. People 10,000 years ago did not fall into the racial categories we have constructed today. Nutrition, environment, demographics, genetic mutations and founder's effects, among other causes have lead to the geographic distribution of traits as we see them today. In another century or millennium, they will be completely different.