Racial differences...

[Viking]

No not completely. The enviroment is the deciding factor of what mutations are more profitable. For example most larger animals evolve to smaller animals when living in a small closed area for example an Island or in dense forrested areas. (Take the Homo floresiensis, or compare a giraffe with an okapi.)
While evolution happens random it usually alwas is a way to adapt to the enviroment. Hence the enviroment does indirectly help determing what possible charasteristics evolve and in what way. Now with intelligence it is just not that easy to determine and expect.

What mutations you get is random, that's what I am getting at. Even if the the enviroment in itself does not require better cognitive capabilities, that doesn't mean that such traits aren't more favourable and will not give rise to better chances of survival.

[Moros]

What mutations you get is random, that's what I am getting at. Even if the the enviroment in itself does not require better cognitive capabilities, that doesn't mean that such traits are more favourable and will give rise to better chances of survival.

But if they don't give better chances of survival they usually don't spread over the population and eventually dissapears from it's genepool. Unless the population is really small.

Edit: unless it improves chances of mating. For example a comparison between gorilla balls (really small as there's only one male ape who get's down with the ladies) and chimps (who all try to get it down and hence have been competing for generations for having the best balls).

[Viking]

I forgot a couple of "nots" in my post, it should now be relying what I meant. A good trait is a good trait regardless of whether it was "truly needed" or not. It can make that little difference that decides whether the outcome is life or death, or when the job is to secure a good mating partner.

[Moros]

Indeed that makes for more sense. But those are evolutions that generally take longer. But that isn't an awnser to his quetion, it's rather a 'do note however'. But it still falls under lifestyle however. Like nowadays for humans, I don't think having higher intelligence ups your chances of survival/increases your offspring anymore.

[Centurion1]

No it doesn't but evolution is all mucked up. Being bigger and stronger doesn't really help either. You could make the argument in world wars that the bigger stronger faster people died off more. Because physically weaker people stayed behind a desk and the physical specimens were the actual fighters. Therefore the very strong survived along with the weak.

Though it is debatable that populations were affected enough by war even on that scale.

[Viking]

Indeed that makes for more sense. But those are evolutions that generally take longer. But that isn't an awnser to his quetion, it's rather a 'do note however'. But it still falls under lifestyle however. Like nowadays for humans, I don't think having higher intelligence ups your chances of survival/increases your offspring anymore.

The question was From a darwinistic evolutionary perspective, what reasons would there be for certain so-called "races" to become more intelligent than others? The answer is that we have a random element, and thus it is perfectly possible. The differences between different groups of humans developed long ago, at a time when life was much different. The civilisations are not that old.

I think that intelligence matters in contemporary evolution as well, it might decrease the chances of individuals doing outright stupid things which could lead to death at young age. It's not random which youth that dies in traffic accidents due to taking unnecessary risks, and this could have to do with genetics.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Intelligence does not simply run on a low - high scale. More on a useful - unuseful scale.

Different populations, under different evolutionary pressures, will evolve in different ways. Each one is fit to his environment. Cognitive traits serve a multitude of purposes. One is not necessarily more intelligent than the other. Never mind superior, no more than a polar bear is superior to a kangeroo.


One could argue that diversity creates cultural and intellectual richness.

[Viking]

Intelligence does not simply run on a low - high scale. More on a useful - unuseful scale.

Different populations, under different evolutionary pressures, will evolve in different ways. Each one is fit to his environment. Cognitive traits serve a multitude of purposes. One is not necessarily more intelligent than the other. Never mind superior, no more than a polar bear is superior to a kangeroo.


One could argue that diversity creates cultural and intellectual richness.

What I mean with intelligence is the ability to think abstract, to reason etc. It is possible to be superior in this regard. Kangaroos can be superior to polar bears and vice versa depending on which criterions you judge them by.

Please specify what you mean by "cognitive traits", it's not clear what this is supposed to mean.

[Lemur]

Intelligence does not simply run on a low - high scale. More on a useful - unuseful scale.

This. Precisely.

Also, "race" is an imprecise, sloppy and loaded excuse of a term, when we really should be considering genomes. Someone from South Africa will have very different genetics than someone from Kenya. What use is "race" in this context? Likewise, a Japanese man is going to have very different genes from a Thai man. So what use is "race", again?

All this race talk sounds suspiciously like a discussion of the humors, dowsing and phrenology. "Race" as such is meaningless; genetics are everything. Will we find statistical deviance between groups of genomes? Most likely. Where will this matter? Medicine.

[Paltmull]

The question was From a darwinistic evolutionary perspective, what reasons would there be for certain so-called "races" to become more intelligent than others? The answer is that we have a random element, and thus it is perfectly possible. The differences between different groups of humans developed long ago, at a time when life was much different. The civilisations are not that old.

I think that intelligence matters in contemporary evolution as well, it might decrease the chances of individuals doing outright stupid things which could lead to death at young age. It's not random which youth that dies in traffic accidents due to taking unnecessary risks, and this could have to do with genetics.

Whoops, I'd forgotten that i had posted here. Started quite a discussion...

Anyway, I had about the same argument as that of Moros in mind. Even though there is a random element; doesn't evolution still tend to be very 'deterministic'? The advantage that higher intelligence (however we define that) gives will need to be very significant in order for it to become an evolutionary factor. If not, it will simply stay on an individual level. And, as I said earlier, since different enviroments probably didn't require different "levels" of intelligence, all "races" are most likely similar in this area.

[A Nerd]

I beleive the body evolves, the mind learns. The idea of race is body types and appearances changing over the years and the minds ability to interpret it. Seemingly, in a sense of superiority over another more times than not.

[Viking]

Whoops, I'd forgotten that i had posted here. Started quite a discussion...

Anyway, I had about the same argument as that of Moros in mind. Even though there is a random element; doesn't evolution still tend to be very 'deterministic'? The advantage that higher intelligence (however we define that) gives will need to be very significant in order for it to become an evolutionary factor. If not, it will simply stay on an individual level. And, as I said earlier, since different enviroments probably didn't require different "levels" of intelligence, all "races" are most likely similar in this area.

I don't know. Different enviroments are different, and so you get possibilities - they don't have to be big.

It is that poor mutated hairless chimp in the last picture.

A mutation that several hundred thousand years ago became dominant in humans.

I don't know about that, the average human is hairier.