Does race exist? Yes and no.
Yes, in the sense that there are obvious differences between populations. A Black man is not a White man, and you can tell. To deny the reality of phenotypal differences between people from different regions in the world is as foolish as denying that red and green are different colors on the color spectrum.
No, in the sense that when you go from green to red on the color spectrum, there is no sudden dividing line where it's red on this side and green on that. Green slowly turns orange, and orange begrudgingly gives way to red. Race works the same way. On its most basic level, it's simply natural differentiation by distance. If you go from one person to the next from Nigeria to Finnland, you won't notice any big differences along the way, but when you compare the Finn to the Nigerian at the end of the journey, you will see the difference right away.
So, does race exist? Yes and no.
Human genetic and physical differentiation is subject to natural drift, bottle neck/founder effects, as well as environmental and sexual selection. (For a definition of these terms, please refer to the definitions.)
All of the world's sharp differences can be accounted for by the following:
1. Differentiation as a function of distance.
2. Natural barriers (deserts, mountain ranges, oceans, glaciers, etc.) also has the same effect, but without the result of physically intermediate populations.
3. Sudden expansion of populations, which absorb and or wipe out intermediate types.
4. Different lifestyles which prevent intermarraige: hunter/gatherer vs. farmer vs. herder, different social classes (i.e. India's caste system), different fields or interests (computer geeks marrying computer geeks ... thus the increase of autism in Silicone Valley), different levels of attractiveness (beautiful people only marrying beautiful people), and so on.
From that we have this: Cavalli-Sforza's color map of genetic affinity showing the gradual transitions in the world...
So, both camps are wrong.
Some stick to outdated constructs, that there are discreet "races" and that you are either this or that or a mixture. Others, more post modern, say flat out that race doesn't even exist, that there are more genetic differences among individuals within "races" than that between races. The reality, as always the case, is something in-between.
There are those who think of everything in solid, discreet terms, as if the vast amount of diversity can all be attributed to 3 or 4 discreet "races". In their mind it's as though each "race" just all huddled in a cave by themselves, separated from another "race", until one day they decided to spread. All the variation can be explained by them as a mixture of these basic archetypes/races. Needless to say, it's an outdated view that's been whooped by reality each time, especially the genetic findings of recent years. The notion that each nation (in the meta sense as in nation, tribe, race) forms a discreet block different from others, that each nation has its own lineage, genetic origin, and phenotype apart from others, has proven to be foolish. The nation, your brethren, are nothing but a collection of unrelated peoples, perhaps enemies or different "races" 30,000 years ago, who came together to form a breeding population, which became a new nation/race over time.
On the other side of the opinion spectrum, there are those who take these truths to conclude that "race" doesn't exist. That's also foolish, because it's as blind as saying different colors don't exist.
To be updated.
