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Why are Europeans White?

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Re: Why are Europeans White?

#21

Post by InclinedPlane »

molmalo wrote: post #16
exit wrote: post #8

i wonder whether depigmentation happened fast enough for people to be cognissant of the advantages. well into the processes, would people know that dark skinned atavisms would have nutritional problems?

I think that the most visible advantage/disadvantage of having different skin colors, are the frequency and severity of sunburns. Black people are more resistant to sunburns than white people. And given that they would need to move hundreds or thousands of kilometers, to be exposed to lower latitudes and heavier solar radiation, and that it was a loooong trip in those prehistoric times, maybe they didn't get to see t…

How common were sunburns before indoor lighting and industrialization though? If you spent at least an hour outdoors every day from early spring through late fall would you ever get sunburned?

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#22

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

trafficlight wrote: post #2

Good thing you can't actually click on the images to make them larger. I didn't really want to look at those maps anyway.

I have Hover Zoom (Chrome Addon) and that resolved this issue for me. When I moused over the maps they jumped out into a viewable box.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#23

Post by devs1010 »

Is it just me or do some Asians not seem nearly as white as caucasians? It seems especially Japanese can be fairly pale, I think its fairly subjective to say people of European ancestry are universally the most pale on earth.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#24

Post by kqr2 »

devs1010 wrote: post #23

Is it just me or do some Asians not seem nearly as white as caucasians? It seems especially Japanese can be fairly pale, I think its fairly subjective to say people of European ancestry are universally the most pale on earth.

The depigmentation ("whiteness") referred to in the article also applies to hair and eye color. Although some East Asians may be pale, their hair and eyes are generally not depigmented.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#25

Post by dmoy »

vacri wrote: post #19
dmoy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's odd, I can rightclick-> open image or zoom just fine. Is something wrong with your (or my!) browser?

Even then, they're not a great size for examination. The whole format of the page looks like it was made by Crackpots-R-Us, which doesn't contribute well to his argument.

Fair enough, I see :)

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#26

Post by batista »

devs1010 wrote: post #23

Is it just me or do some Asians not seem nearly as white as caucasians? It seems especially Japanese can be fairly pale, I think its fairly subjective to say people of European ancestry are universally the most pale on earth.

Of course they do not. Malaysians for example are dark colored, as are Indonesians etc. Also Indians are far from pale.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#27

Post by devs1010 »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #21
molmalo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the most visible advantage/disadvantage of having different skin colors, are the frequency and severity of sunburns. Black people are more resistant to sunburns than white people. And given that they would need to move hundreds or thousands of kilometers, to be exposed to lower latitudes and heavier solar radiation, and that it was a loooong trip in those prehistoric times, maybe they didn't get to see t…

How common were sunburns before indoor lighting and industrialization though? If you spent at least an hour outdoors every day from early spring through late fall would you ever get sunburned?

In my experience, no, although it may take a bit more than an hour each day and you may need to spend it outside during the "high noon" part of the day. Basically, I've often, in the past, jumped into spending a lot of time outdoors shirtless in the summer time and would get sunburned once but then from that point on would not. It seems that the sustained sun keeps one's "tolerance" up so that sunburns don't reoccur at least until the skin gets less tan again (when less time is spent outdoors)

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#28

Post by jim_kaiser »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #21
molmalo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the most visible advantage/disadvantage of having different skin colors, are the frequency and severity of sunburns. Black people are more resistant to sunburns than white people. And given that they would need to move hundreds or thousands of kilometers, to be exposed to lower latitudes and heavier solar radiation, and that it was a loooong trip in those prehistoric times, maybe they didn't get to see t…

How common were sunburns before indoor lighting and industrialization though? If you spent at least an hour outdoors every day from early spring through late fall would you ever get sunburned?

I'm from India, and have never used sunscreen, as is the case with the majority here. We don't get sunburned that easily i guess. It does happen if we go into the mountains i.e. snow peaks is not that common otherwise.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#29

Post by devs1010 »

batista wrote: post #26
devs1010 wrote: post #23

Is it just me or do some Asians not seem nearly as white as caucasians? It seems especially Japanese can be fairly pale, I think its fairly subjective to say people of European ancestry are universally the most pale on earth.

Of course they do not. Malaysians for example are dark colored, as are Indonesians etc. Also Indians are far from pale.

I work with many Indians and they themselves refer to "Asian" as a different race (meaning East Asian), so I didn't mean Indian people by this, rather East Asian, obviously many East Asians are much darker skinned than whites, however I personally know Asians that are fairly pale and I am sure at times I have been more tan than they are (when I would spend more time outside) and I primarily of German-Irish ancestry.

Re: Why are Europeans White?

#30

Post by davedx »

[deleted] wrote: post #20
vacri wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Baltic isn't all that warm either - half of it freezes over in winter.

[deleted]

"On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered for about 45% of its surface area at the maximum annually. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Riga, Väinameri in the Estonian archipelago, the Stockholm archipelago and the Archipelago Sea." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea
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