Jones Beene wrote:
Jeff Fink wrote:
I read somewhere a long time ago that the offspring of interracial
unions
are, in general, bigger healthier and smarter than "pure breds".
Does any
one know the source of that, or if it has been proven.
It's called "Heterosis" or more simply "hybrid vigor" ... if it were
not true in the plant world, most of us would be starving today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vigor
There are observers who will come close to repeating Watson's logical
error with the premise that the world dominance of the USA is based on
intellectual "vigor";
Let's not forget that the entire human race has a microscopic fraction
of the genetic diversity found in almost every other species (cheetahs
being one notable exception). The races may look very different to
*us*, as humans (with our powerful evolved-in ability to distinguish
between individual humans), but from the point of view of the genome
we're all very similar.
It's not at all clear that there's enough genetic diversity in humanity
to produce any kind of interesting "hybrid vigor" effect, regardless of
what representatives are chosen.
There are also very few "purebred" humans, on any continent, and
certainly not anywhere on mainland Europe, where there's been trade with
the four corners of the earth for centuries out of mind.
