2 ms·
That's a false equivalence. Some terms are well-defined in phylogeny, and even among the murkier concepts (like species) almost all of them are clearer than rac
by throwaway65512 7y ago
That's a false equivalence. Some terms are well-defined in phylogeny, and even among the murkier concepts (like species) almost all of them are clearer than race which basically covers a hodge-podge of sometimes contradictory concepts no one ever seems to agree on.
- jshevek 7y agoSaying that it is "arbitrary" is not helpful here, and can imply that it is "wholly arbitrary" which is wrong.
- throwaway65512 7y agoIt is arbitrary enough as to be utterly irrelevant in modern genomics. Some people cling to it, usually doctors who haven't gotten the memo, old school taxonomists who don't want to let go of their traditional systems, and of course Pioneer Fund recipients. But popgen/phylogeny researchers avoid using it because of how little information it conveys due to its being so poorly defined.