Human division

[Queso]

one day, far from now, do you think there will be on race?

if all the races now keep breeding with each other, eventually we will all look the same, right?

except for features of course.

[Fishteacher73]

Under the social structures now in place, the only process that I see that can galvanize the human race would be an external threat that looked at humans as a single entity. War is good at getting people all on the same page (At least in terms of a defensive war). Just as international tragedy gets everyone helping (ie Tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.) I think an exteranal invasion force would be the only impetus to solidify mankind at the moment. Humans like to fight and until we can move past that, we will continually. This would be harnessed in a ET attack and we would have someone else to fight besides ourselves.

[IrishEyes]

the only process that I see that can galvanize the human race would be an external threat that looked at humans as a single entity.

 

Nah, I don't agree. Did you ever watch the series "V"??? There was an invading force, and they were here to use us as food. Most people didn't do a thing, some resisted, but others actually joined up on the 'alien' side, and sold out their fellow humans for a variety of reasons. While it was a very silly show (and such a guilty pleasure, even though I was young), I think it was fairly accurate in detailing how people would react.

 

Some people are just so wrapped up in their own lives that something on the other side of the world doesn't affect them. There are people around here that didn't know about the tsunami until Wednesday... And for them it is already a thing of the past. THe same goes for the many and various conflicts the US is involved with- unless you are or know someone directly involved, they are not a day-to-day reality.

 

An external invasion would have to be a global thing to get any sort of reaction. What I mean by that is that a force would have to attack/invade virtually every country to get people to come together. If aliens attacked say, Australia, there are countries that would send help, depending on the type of attack. The same goes for any other country, really. But then again, you would still find people that would be against fighting the 'aliens', regardless of why they were here. Pacifism seems to be a growing trend, very popular these days, and war-mongering is very un-cool. :)

[Fishteacher73]

Irish, are you saying that a hostile invasion would end upo like WWII France? The masses essentailly just dealing with it with only pockets of resistance? I guess I see your point. Iraq also to a degree falls into these lines. And I am sure that Americans are much more "alien" of invaders there than the Germans were in France.

 

I guess that my personal perspective skews what "normal" thought is. I seem to surround my self with staunch individualists and often forget that this is not an accurate representation of the "average" person.

[Tim_Lou]

my guess is... never.

in my opinion, the earth has too many different continents, and many other geographic barrages.... with temperature variation and all sort of things, humans would never be mixed to such extent.

[Fishteacher73]

There is already discussion about the irrelevance of race. While anthroplogical studies indicate various "norms" for bone stucture of various races, the lines are getting increasingly blurred. As little as 50 or 60 years ago it was reasonably easy to predict age, sex, and race on just skeletal remains. now the picture is becoming a bit cloudier. (Acording to William Bass in his book Death's Acre. A fascinating autobiography and history of forensic anthropology and his cration of the "Body Farm" to study human decomposition).

 

So we have already begun the homginization of the human species. There will probably always be "purists" and pockets of individuals trying to retain the integrity of their original culture, but as a whole, it is already starting.

[IrishEyes]

Irish, are you saying that a hostile invasion would end upo like WWII France? The masses essentailly just dealing with it with only pockets of resistance?

Yes, basically, that's what I'm saying. I'm not sure that it is correct to call it 'human nature', but that's pretty much how it seems to happen. If you look at most countries, usually, they have the same type of history. The US was full of native tribes, Europeans came over, and some of the tribes fit in, some tried to stay apart, some fought. They didn't all get together and try to fight off the newcomers for the good of them all. I think most countries have a similar instance in their past. I don't see how it would be any different if some alien race invaded our planet.

 

eventually we will all look the same, right?

except for features of course.

 

I just thought this was funny... i mean, how much more 'the same' (except for features) can people look than we do now? Aren't our features the only things that distinguish us?

 

Death's Acre... read some of it, but haven't finished it. Very interesting stuff, right in my own back yard, so to speak...

[motherengine]

in the future humans will have evolved into seal-like creatures with downy fur covering their bodies.

[Fishteacher73]

in the future humans will have evolved into seal-like creatures with downy fur covering their bodies.

 

Does that mean we can club our infants to make coats out of them??!!!! :)

[Queso]

uncertainty.