Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

You're right that there is a definition by which “a different human race” is a sensible designation, but personally I think the concept of “race” belongs in the bin. There are many things we could sensibly call “æther”, yet we avoid the terminology because historical science papers used the word to describe a concept that's now so obviously wrong it's amusing that anybody ever thought it was the case.

Science always brings in modern-day politics. Science, in its purest form, doesn't know of silly human foibles like “ethical restraint” or “but that's almost certainly fatal”; if scientists acted purely on scientific inquiry, the scientists who didn't kill themselves in a hair-brained scheme would either be in prison or on the run.

The classification of humans into “races” is historically associated with pseudoscientific drivel that was never particularly based on reality (much, much less so than the idea of æther); even if you've found a “race” classification that actually does have an element of truth in it, giving it the same name as the Göttingen school's scientific racism is probably not a good idea.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: