>>12263434This distance, some several thousand miles between the mainlands of Australia and Asia also caused another kind of distance.
Genetic... distance.
Genetic distance is a measure of the genetic divergence between species or between populations within a species.
Dogs and wolves have been found to have a shorter genetic distance between each other than Negroids and non-Negroids.
The distance between Eurasians and Africans being even larger than Homo Sapiens and Homo... Erectus.
Well, it kinda makes sense. I mean, can two races with diverging skin tones, eye colors, behavioral patterns, intellectual and athletic capabilities even be considered the same subspecies? Is it even a question? Is it even a question you're... allowed to... ask?
In October 2007, geneticist James Watson, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, and the familiar double-helix model we all had to learn in High School, was lambasted by the scientific community for a response he gave in an interview regarding the divergence of intellect between geographically isolated populations.
"There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically," James wrote. "Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so".
The response resulted with a suspension of Watson's administrative responsibilities and was forced to... cancel... his book tour. And tragically, in 2014, Mr Watson auctioned his Nobel Prize medal he won in 1962, stating that "no-one really wants to admit I exist".
Harsh. But people tend to react this way to ideas that go against their own personal world view and... cognitive... biases.
