Race, genetics, and geography
Interesting preprint, Multiple Measures Reveal The Value of Both Race And Geographic Ancestry For Self-Identification: There is long-standing tension regarding whether and how to use race or geographic ancestry in biomedical research. We examined multiple self-reported measures of race and ancestry from a cohort of over 100,000 U.S. residents alongside genetic data. We found that […]
The genetic risk of prostate cancer is probably higher in people of West African descent
When David Reich’s op-ed came out there was some discussion that ensued about his focus on prostate cancer risk in African Americans. This is the research which put Reich on my personal radar (if you care, start with this 2006 paper, Admixture mapping identifies 8q24 as a prostate cancer risk locus in African-American men). I […]
Reason is but a slave of passions as it always has been
David Hume stated that “reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.” I don’t know about the ought part, that’s up for debate. But the is part seems empirically true. The reasons people give for this or that is often just a post hoc rationalization. To give a different twist to […]
Racism, what about speciesism?
One thing that came to the fore in late 2008 was the worry that a financial regulatory regime which had been exceeding lax was now more conscious of the excesses of the previous era. The problem being that one will not necessarily be prepared for the n…