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DNA reveals we are all genetic mutts (news.harvard.edu)
23 points by mjfl 4 hours ago | hide | past | web | favorite | 13 comments





> A similar prehistory occurred in the Iberian Peninsula where a third population, also arrived from the Steppes, joined the hunter-gather and farmer groups. In this case, DNA research shows that the third population was exclusively male: While only 40 percent of the population about 6,000 years ago comes from the Steppes, 100 percent of the Y chromosomes do.

This doesn't say what the author wants it to say. If 100% of the Y chromosomes come from the intrusive population, that doesn't mean that the intrusive population was entirely male. It means that 100% of indigenous males were exterminated, so that (after the intrusion) the male population was entirely intrusive. All the males being intruders is a very different concept from all the intruders being male.


> “No population is, or ever could be, pure,”

Why this obsession with 'purity'? Isn't it obvious that, despite none being pure, some populations are more closely related?


you get extra points if you can dress your scientific story as "speaking out against racism".

I wonder how many of these genetic migrations were peaceful.

probably very few, if the old testament or the huge proportion of ancient skeletons that died violent deaths serve as any guide. which is why I think this story by Reich is very tone deaf. It's hard to see how a 90% population replacement promotes feelings of unity and hand-holding.

One imagines a superposition of a video feed of the invasion of the steppe-people on horseback, stampeding the native defenses, cutting the male children's throats and raping the women, with a video a David Reich being like "we're all a little mixed".


> The Steppe migration resulted in a 90 percent replacement of the population.

>While only 40 percent of the population about 6,000 years ago comes from the Steppes, 100 percent of the Y chromosomes do.

From reading this article it seems another way that this could be phrased, is that we are all the descendants of perpetrators of genocide.


Don't forget the rape!

100% of your Ys coming from one place is the opposite of "mutt", too. But the only way you can get to do race science is by coming to the conclusion "There's no such thing as race" first, and making the details sound boring enough that nobody asks.



>What makes Dr. Watson’s and Mr. Wade’s statements so insidious is that they start with the accurate observation that many academics are implausibly denying the possibility of average genetic differences among human populations, and then end with a claim — backed by no evidence — that they know what those differences are and that they correspond to racist stereotypes.

Perhaps there is no hard evidence because nobody is willing to risk their lively-hood over researching such claims. Just look at what they did to Dr. Watson. Heck, a few paragraphs above Reich was talking about African-Americans being genetically predisposed to prostate cancer as if it was a highly controversial topic.


Well, the problem is we probably can't find anyone to sponsor to study to determine if once and for all, whites are prone to psychosis and mass murder via guns.

Now that is quite the switch of topic. The only known research of race differences in psychopathy is of Richard Lynn's 2002 studies on the topic. In this, Lynn does point to whites being more prone to psychosis than on average. I do know of some controversy of Richard Lynn's work, and here is a response paper to such: https://web.archive.org/web/20130108233748/http://riskreduct...

Regarding school shootings in particular, my personal guess is that such sour actions on the average are merely a symptom of a hole in America's conscious, in that these semi-affluent white boys have lost meaning in life, and do not care if the actions they commit are grave. Of particular note is you do not see boys of abject poverty commit these actions, as they are more focused on not starving (and thus have something obviously meaningful to their life to prioritize).


"treat each human being as an individual and to empower all people, regardless of what hand they are dealt from the deck of life"

Well that's certainly better than the third one.


David Reich you say.



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