Race in the Future

May 22, 1999, 1:48 AM ET7 posts by 5 postersalt.tv.futurama
7 posts
Joseph Abbottalt.tv.futurama

Race, ie differences in physical characters between humans in different regions, only came about because groups were separated by geographic barriers, only bred with people in that area and thus developed regional characteristics.

But already in the modern world all the geographical barriers have come down. Interracial breeding is extremely common which means a mixing of racial characteristics. "Race" will gradually disappear as the defining traits are blended away.

There will still be some people born with lighter skin or darker skin, but they wont identify with a particular "race" only the culture they are born into. The colour of your skin, slanting eyes, etc wont mean anything about who you are, what culture or nation you come from, anymore than brown eyes do today.

It is also possible (in fact likely) that genetic engineering will mean you can choose particular features you want your baby to have. (I'm gonna make mine have pink hair and x-ray vision).

Some races have already disappeared, for example the Ainu of Japan. They werent killed off, they just interbred with Japanese until no distinction between the physical characters of the groups remained.

However, new races may emerge if, for example, groups of humans are isolated on other planets, or in generational spaceships. But the characteristic that develop will probably be different from the ones that developed here on Earth.

P.S. Did anyone notice that in the show, Dec 31 2999 is a Tuesday and that it really will be a Tuesday? Impressive!

Joseph Abbott

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." - Deep Thoughts __

slowbean@{remove}geocities.com (Joseph Abbott) wrote:

Hmmm... I wonder if they just changed their time settings in Win98 to find out what day it'd be?.... nope. I just tried it and I could only go up as far as 2080... interestingly enough, though, Windows98 will let you set the clock back to the year 1980... does this indicate Microsoft's intention to find some way to send a computer back in time?*

*Note: comment to be taken humorously. =D

NightShadow (A.K.A. Jay Seals) Writer, poet and general nut. http://members.home.net/nightshadow

In article , [email] wrote:

Actually, more than likely, it's your computer's BIOS doing that job, but either way, it's an artifact of the original design, nothing more. Or IOW, legacy code. Now they could have used CAL from Unix, I think, but I'm not sure.. If not that, then Emacs or something else would also do the trick..

Ash: Klaatu borada n... Necktie... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word! --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Joseph Abbottvxpmrz3alt.tv.futurama

To check it i just searched on the web for "calendar 3000" and up popped a calendar for the year 3000. <http://users.mainlink.net/~sledford/cal/3000.html>

But I'm sure the Futurama guys had to pay some "science consultant" $200/hr to find it out for them . ;)

Joseph Abbott

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." - Deep Thoughts __

In article , slowbean@{remove}geocities.com (Joseph Abbott) wrote:

All? No, not completely. Still plenty of barriers in existance. Just easier to surmount...of course, there are cultural ones to be found, and of course, in the Futurama world, there was a dark ages period or two on Earth, which would result in increases in the barriers once more.

Ash: Klaatu borada n... Necktie... Nickel... It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word! --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Rick Carlsonvxpmrz3alt.tv.futurama

Plus, there are still many cultures that are extremely resistant to "racial or cultural impurity." For example, in India, not only do you have to marry someone in the same caste, but also with a specific geographic area. Also, here in the U.S., the Mason-Dixon line is very much on the minds of many people, at least when it comes to marriage.

There will always be cultural and physical diversity for many reasons.

[email] wrote in message ...

In article , "RickC" wrote:

"racial

In order for racial characteristics to develop you need to have virtually no interbreeding between the groups. Evene 1% of the population interbreeding with enough will stop the groups from diverging, because races are evolved very slowly over time.

The Mason-Dixon line is not even remotely a geographic barrier. And I know lots of East Indians who date and marry people of other races.

--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---