The Evolution of Light Skin: DNA, Climate and Diet
If you understand this topic, then this is one of the best videos we have seen this year. None of it is new if you follow this kind of research, but how he puts it together is so much more digestible than reading 100 research papers. Next to no one can understand those. What he is doing is making it digestible for well-studied folks. We can break it down even further and tie it to our work on race.
All information in the hands of illiterates and motivated people can be twisted to say things the data is clearly not saying. Funnily, he mentions the Nation of Islam and the Yacub theory. This shows how deeply he has studied the topic. The likes of Runoko Rashidi would have loved to use this to prove a pan-black theory. But there is no way you can understand this topic and invest any further in that. It is honestly a joke after watching and understanding this video. Unfortunately, 1/2 knowledge has led to some saying “you see, you see, BLACK people were the first to create civilization, the first Japanese were blacks”. But dark skin is just dark skin it has no connection to a modern “black” or “African” identity. It is as ridiculous of saying “All life came from Africa so we are all Africans”. NO! Africans, per the video, are very unique in their diversity. Our DNA is so unique that it cannot be hidden, even after admixture. So, Europeans are an offshoot of a tiny fraction of the African genome. Like 5% of modern African people. How are they also African? Within Africa, just like Europe, people spread and intermixed. And finally, people have always been coming back. There goes your racial purity. It is funny because people always insult Ethiopians and say they are mixed-race; well, so are the Khoi. (I am on the floor in laughter typing)
I have a friend who is highly educated. Yet after decades of exposure to this information on the topic of neanderthals, he still holds an ignorant position on neanderthals = dumb brutes. It is ingrained at a cultural intellectual level. Do not be that guy!
We do have some notes. But they are minor, and unless you are going even deeper do not affect the central position of this video.
Light skin also occurs in African populations. Dark skin people can produce light-skinned people. You do not need Euroasian genes to do this. Saying this, light skin did not come out of Africa and create modern Europeans and Asians.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Many genes, not one, cause light skin.
- Asian light skin is not caused by the same genetic process
- Convergence evolution causes similar responses to UV but through different processes
- . Dark skin does not equal “black” people. Especially since “black” people also have light skin naturally in Africa
- I would avoid calling people black, as it is backwards and disrespectful.
HISTORY OF SKIN COLOR
Living Color is the first book to investigate the social history of skin color from prehistory to the present, showing how our body’s most visible trait influences our social interactions in profound and complex ways. In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, Nina G. Jablonski begins with the biology and evolution of skin pigmentation, explaining how skin color changed as humans moved around the globe. She explores the relationship between melanin pigment and sunlight, and examines the consequences of rapid migrations, vacations, and other lifestyle choices that can create mismatches between our skin color and our environment.
WHAT WE GOT WRONG
I am still struggling with the presence of SLC24A5 gene occurring 2000 years ago inthe Khoisan people deep inside of Africa. We always said their light skin had a more ancient and different source. We are not geneticists; we just are sufficiently educated on DNA to be able to hold these discussions. We have to trust serious geneticists. We are not linguists or archaeologists either. We have to read scientific journals and report on those findings.
FURTHER READING
