Richard Lewontin Leaves Legacy Against Discrimination in Science

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When Donald Trump introduced genetics on a a campaign preparation meeting in Minnesota in September 2020, commentators were quick to link their language to eugenics and Nazi science in the early 20th century. “You have good genes, you know, don’t you?” Trump asked his audience almost all whites. “You have good genes. It’s all about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? “His motive was that – because of his race – his party was different, and more importantly, the black and black people that Trump had always ridiculed and corrected.
This view, accepted by some in the political arena today, was a scientific speculation. However, today many scientists do not take the concept of species lightly – especially because of Richard Lewontin, a biologist at Harvard University who died in July at the age of 92. Lewontin made his name in the 1960s, when he demonstrated, using humans. of flies, that some kind of people are very different than scientists originally thought.
In 1972, Lewontin became interested in racial diversity in his political career published the paper showing that only 6% of racial segregation exists between well-known ethnic groups; everything else can be found inside those groups. By studying how several types of blood proteins — recorded by genetic variation — were distributed to the general population, they were able to determine the number of groups of groups present between species.
For example, if all whites were found to have type A blood and black people were all B type, the idea of a different color would be a little more convincing. But if half of the people in both groups had type A blood and half had blood type B, all the different types would be present in the groups, not among them. Of course, Lewontin found, it was very close to what had happened. More recent updates A number of genetic studies have confirmed Lewontin’s findings.
He concluded his 1972 paper with a statement that would have appeared to be a strange politician in modern scientific journals. “Racism is useless and destroys relationships,” he wrote. “Given that such discrimination now seems to have no genetic or economic significance, there is no valid reason for commitment.” The newspaper was a seminal – according to Google Scholar, cited more than 3,000 times – and is a major pillar in support of the “aphorism” and moral values. “
“The idea that there was more diversity in the group than in all the old groups. I have been there for many years, “says Jonathan Marks, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.” And it was very powerful. ”
Since the 1970’s, new technologies have dramatically altered genetic makeup: Major genomic research has altered the way scientists understand the relationship between genes and systems. “Lewontin was wise to expect that, with the money people would spend on genomics, genetics would be at the forefront of trying to explain disease — and, more importantly, behavioral factors,” said Sandra Lee, a professor of medicine and culture at the University. While the power and flexibility of this type of technology continues to grow, Lewontin’s work is still surprisingly here.
One of Lewontin’s greatest achievements was his Harvard colleague EO Wilson, who had a strong and practical genetic background in choosing animals and humans alike. It is his 1975 book Sociobiology: New Synthesis, Wilson propagated the idea that habits ranging from surrender to cruelty to sexual misconduct could best be explained by the force of evolution. Lewontin believes that Wilson erroneously assumed – especially on the basis of animal research – that most human systems and processes, from creation to evolution, must have been selected at the time of evolution. Lewontin argued that the concept represents only one way to restore the temporary sensitivity to biology and the future, which he said, became accustomed. promoting religion for hundreds of years.
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