I like percussionists.
Mal: You tell me right now, little Kaylee, you really think you can do this? Kaylee: Sure. Yeah. I think so. 'Sides, if I mess up, not like you'll be able to yell at me.
'Bushwhacked'
The Minearverse 5: Closer to the Earth, Further from the Ax
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls, The Inside and Drive), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Topic!Cindy - Aug 17, 2006 11:25:33 am PDT #926 of 10001
What is even happening?
Matt the Bruins fan - Aug 17, 2006 11:28:25 am PDT #927 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
ba-dump bump
Polter-Cow - Aug 17, 2006 11:40:51 am PDT #928 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I like pertussis toxin.
Typo Boy - Aug 17, 2006 12:09:07 pm PDT #929 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
But races do have a biological reality.
No. Race tends to be defined arbitrarily by culture based on more or less arbitrary characteristics. Sometimes that arbitrary definition coincides with actual genetic subgrops, which is why it is useful for medical purposes. But not always. For example take the racial grouping Asian - which includes Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, people from the Indian subcontinent (Indians and Pakistanis), and miscellaneious others as well. And by some definitions Arabs as well. Even if you don't include Arabs, does that give you medically useful commonalities? OK Black or people of African descent does give some useful stuff medically. Not just sickle cell, but bone density and a lot biological stuff that genetics plays a larger role in. But Jews have Say Tachs disease and number of other medical commonalities. Yet we are not considered a race. As I say "race" is an arbitrary social creation. It sometimes coincides with genetic subgroups which there are real medical reasons to pay attention to. But you can find plenty of genetic subgroups with as many medical reasons to pay attention to their comonalities (and their differences from other genetic subgroups) which are not defined as races.
Jars - Aug 17, 2006 12:45:48 pm PDT #930 of 10001
Oops, yeah, I think processualist and postprocessualist are just archaeology words that gets thrown around so much you assume everyone knows what it is. I assume every field has them. Anyone, Bueller?
Strega - Aug 17, 2006 1:47:37 pm PDT #931 of 10001
But Jews have Say Tachs disease and number of other medical commonalities. Yet we are not considered a race.
Er. By who, and when and where? Yes, race is just an arbitrary designation. Which means that virtually every random group of people has been described as a race by another random group of people. Including Jews.
Scientists refer to race because it's a familiar way to identify a set of genetic characteristics, even if, of course, not every individual has every characteristic in that set. When we identify someone as a member of a particular race, we are describing real things about them. I'd assumed that's all that P-C was saying, but perhaps I misunderstood him.
I'm a little confused by this:
For example take the racial grouping Asian - which includes Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, people from the Indian subcontinent (Indians and Pakistanis), and miscellaneious others as well. And by some definitions Arabs as well. Even if you don't include Arabs, does that give you medically useful commonalities?Your phrasing reads as if the answer here is obviously no, and if that is what you mean, I'd disagree. Although "medically useful" is kind of vague; it's hard to know if looking at data in a particular way will be useful until you've tried it.
Polter-Cow - Aug 17, 2006 1:51:24 pm PDT #932 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Scientists refer to race because it's a familiar way to identify a set of genetic characteristics, even if, of course, not every individual has every characteristic in that set. When we identify someone as a member of a particular race, we are describing real things about them. I'd assumed that's all that P-C was saying, but perhaps I misunderstood him.
No, that's what I was saying.
§ ita § - Aug 17, 2006 1:53:46 pm PDT #933 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
When we identify someone as a member of a particular race, we are describing real things about them
Yes, and perhaps not, though. Unless you siphon off all the mixed people and describe them differently. As far as I can tell, there's no comprehensive medical test for race.
I do think it can be a useful construct, but it's not a complete one. It says some probably things about a population, but things get more uncertain the smaller your sample.
Jessica - Aug 17, 2006 2:17:35 pm PDT #934 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Yes, race is just an arbitrary designation. Which means that virtually every random group of people has been described as a race by another random group of people. Including Jews.
Dude, are you trying to inflict Godwin on this conversation?
Kevin - Aug 17, 2006 2:32:24 pm PDT #935 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Hello dudes. Hit the front page of Google's Blogger (where, in fact, the word blog originated. I think), and check out the link to Drive. You couldn't buy that kind of publicity. (Well, you could, but it would cost and stuff).