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[dreamer_easy]

Remark on New Earth and race from Lloyd Rose, posted at her request:

I was relieved to see, when the zombies swarmed the hospital, that at least one black person was still alive 5 billion years from now. Especially as there were no Asians, no Latin or Central Americans, no Pakistanis, no Arabs--groups among whom, for non-speaking, boil-infested roles, actors could probably have been found. I was reminded of Richard Pryor's comment after seeing "Star Wars" : "They [white people] finally got rid of us!"

Interesting point, especially since the show has generally been doing reasonably well on that front. Comments, folks? (Lloyd can read 'em here.)

Comments

[barrington.livejournal.com]

I was a little surprised by Lloyd's comment, if only because I remembered thinking the second victim was probably quite beautiful underneath all those boils and so remembered she looked Indian. But I realised that her point is good, but that it also doesn't go far enough.

The year five billion should feature not only a roughly equal mix of all known ethnicities in the human population but also a whole bunch of brand new ones, and yet the "new humans" - and all the humans seen in the episode - look exactly like modern humans. Of course this is the cheap way to do it, but while we've barely been around on Earth now long enough for biological evolution to affect us, five billion years is a stretch to believe we still exist, let alone that the humans who everyone keeps saying have evolved all still look and sound the same as we do now.

From a practical point of view, if they didn't think to specifically ask for a mix of skin colours and looks, then what they get is dependant on the "background artists" available at whatever extras agency they contacted. It's not the sort of situation where I can imagine the casting director looking at head shots, especially not with the turn-around time of television (and Doctor Who in particular).

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

The year five billion should feature not only a roughly equal mix of all known ethnicities in the human population but also a whole bunch of brand new ones...

Actually, you've made me think of something that almost contradicts that, and maybe someone who knows more about genetics than I do can correct me if I'm wrong...

If race became a non-issue as far as cohabiting and marrying and reproducing were concerned, and technology allowed people to zip all over a planet instantaneously so different cultures weren't confined to different areas, would you get some kind of racial smoothing? Would more mixing mean less variation?

For the record, I didn't think the people in New Earth looked particularly 'white' -- I couldn't tell what colour their skins were supposed to be, and plenty of them had dark hair and features that struck me as Middle Eastern or Indian.

[drox.livejournal.com]

Would more mixing mean less variation?

That's a tough one. I immediately think of cats. They've been mixing for millenia and there are still all-white kitties, all-black kitties, siamese kitties, angoras, calicos, tabbies, etc. Some of these traits have been exagerrated due to human intervention, but even with indiscrimimate mixing they still persist. And I suspect human racial traits would too, to some extent, even if/when geographic, planetary and cultural barriers are eliminated.

Of course humans aren't cats and neither are the aliens they might find themselves, erm, mingling with in the far future except maybe cat-faced nuns so I might be completely wrong here. Wouldn't be the first time.

Never has my default icon been more appropriate!