I heard a fascinating interview this morning on Radio National with Dr Spencer Wells, head of a five-year study called the Genographic Project. The study aims to chart the ancestry of people around the world – not just the last few generations, but way back into the past … 60,000 years!
According to Dr Wells, the project has confirmed that all humans share a common origin in Africa. What’s more, 99.99% of our DNA is identical. This means that differences between so-called ‘races’ are, biologically speaking, miniscule.
Makes sense to me … but if humans are virtually identical at the most fundamental level, why do we spend so much time and energy focusing on our differences? I’m not a scientist, let alone a geneticist, but I’d love to see someone come up with a scientifically rigorous explanation of this bizarre human phenomenon.
I’d like to know what human behaviours are governed by that 0.01 percent — perhaps the ability to exercise free will and exacerbate our differences until they seem much larger than they need to be?
Hi Fiona,
As that saying goes, ‘One swallow does not make a summer.’ One DNA project or not, I’ve yet to be convinced that human beings are virtually identical. Aren’t we a multicultural society that celebrates our differences? I don’t think being different has to be a negative thing.
Comment by Mary — 08/12/2009 @ 6:55 am |