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2024-11-11

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We carry DNA from extinct cousins like Neanderthals. Science is now revealing their genetic legacy (apnews.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So even in that case, it still makes sense to distinctly identify these groups - even if there aren't hard lines drawn in the sand, it still helps identify bits of the 'tree' of human evolution. We identify dog breeds, and each of those have specific traits that we use to determine fitness for certain tasks all while not being any kind of subspecies of the whole.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Not really, because it doesn't guarantee any specific individual in that population has any of the populations likely traits, it's only useful in aggregate for things like prioritising screening for certain genetic conditions for people of particular back ground. It's useless to determine if someone will be an excellent sprinter or a fighter pilot because ultimately you still have to test every individual anyhow and it doesn't really tell you anything about the "tree" of human evolution which is really a bunch of thick branches all tightly fused together into an indistinguishable single branch.