Dynamics of Nationalism Part 2

A sense of identity eventually merges. Initially, the identification and imitation of parental figures are incorporated. The language, beliefs, punishments and behaviors of parents are noted along with their rules, emotions, and contradictions. Good, bad and how people are treated are learned. Teachers, religious leaders, sports figures, movie stars, entertainers, etc. also begin to become part of the individual’s fragile sense of identity. Later on, identity becomes clearer based on potential love objects, social groups, achievement and accomplishments in academic and vocational arenas, membership in religious and political groups, participation in college and professional sports teams, country, etc. Through formal and Informal education, the person begins to learn more about love from the great teachers of man. From Ikhnaton, Moses, Confucius, Lao-tse, Buddha, Socrates, and Jesus to name a few. The introduction to the learnings of the philosophers from Europe become embedded consciously or unconsciously. For instance, Machiavelli wrote about employing fear and love to control the populace. However, he added that fear was a stronger technique and more dependable than love. Hobbes, the British philosopher, believed that because of man’s conflicts and frailties, man would submit, and give over control to a sovereign or the state, which would be geared to protect the individual from attack. In other words, fear was the strongest motive. And then there was Spinoza. He believed there was an unconscious motivation that existed in man. He also wrote “but if the greedy person thinks only of money and possessions, the ambitious one only of fame, one does not think of them as being insane, but only as annoying; generally one has contempt for them. But factually greediness, ambition, and so forth are forms of insanity, although usually one does not think of them as illness.” Currently, we have a political divide that was exacerbated by the May 7 zero tolerance policy. This policy resulted in young children being separated from their parents and placed in chain-link areas all over the country. Politically, we were told that these brown skinned people were illegal and associated with disease, rape, homicide and gang related behavior regardless or irrespective of age. Then we witnessed a video of crying children in their cages. One TV station and its various representatives of this man-made policy talked about the strict rule of law with its narrow right and wrong interpretation regarding the immigration madness or mess. However, this was expressed as if there was a concealment of truth as well as an absence of emotional, conscience, moral, ethical behavior, brotherhood of men, religious teachings and critical inductive and deductive reasoning. Instead, there was a blind obedience to this policy based on nationalism or populism, which means hatred and demonization toward nonwhite skinned minorities, love of the strong, disgust toward the poor weakly masses of insignificant strangers. Moreover, we have been told that the other is lazy, shiftless, ignorant, less intelligent and inferior. They don’t deserve legalization, minimum wage, food stamps, health insurance, affirmative action or government, assisted housing. In fact, it’s admirable that Doug McMillion, Walmart’s CEO earned $22.2 million in 2017. The median salaried employee at that company would have to work more than 1000 years to match that income [New York Times, May 27, 2018]. More To Follow

Dynamics of Nationalism

Psychologically, when going from intrauterine to extra uterine or birth, the baby begins life emotionally vulnerable and sensitive to pain, dependent, fearful and helpless. It doesn’t have perception, cannot feed itself; and relies on the mother or caretaker for feeding, diapering and its existence. Within its development, the infant evolves from primary narcissism and begins to recognize outside objects, reacts with emotion, becomes able to grasp things, coordinate movements and then locomote or walk. Secondary narcissism begins as a child starts to recognize the importance of the other. The rudimentary basis for love has now been established. At the cognitive level, primary process thinking evolves into secondary process thinking as the child develops language, speaks, and learns about things and their function. Jean Piaget viewed cognitive development proceeding through four stages. 1. Sensorimotor 2. Preoperational 3. Concrete Operational and 4. Formal Operational. In the fourth stage, the ability to think abstractly, hypothetically, philosophically, ethically, socially, politically, and employ deductive reasoning emerges. Conscience evolves as the child learns “bad” as a result of parental punishments and threats and “good” as result of parental approval. It behaves as such only when the parent is present. We know that conscience was thought at one time to be a major influence on behavior and that conscience was developmental. Initially, according to Piaget and Kohlberg, a child’s behavior was guided externally by punishment and obedience, and then was based on receiving the approval of others, in order to maintain good relations. Later on, the individual begins internally to employ more rational, beneficial mutuality and utilitarian based behavior. He begins to see a logical and rational necessity for people to cooperate with one another .Appropriate behavior is based more on mutuality, reciprocity and the interests of all. With the capacity to view the world objectively, it can see others within a moral, ethical and humanistic framework. We also know that if the parents had a defective or authoritarian based conscience that was expressed in the manner of excessive rigidity or harshness, then it’s very unlikely that the development of the child’s conscience and moral standards would become mature and reasonable. More To Follow

Anthony Bourdain Part 3

Man is irrational and has need structures. He has a need for abasement and exhibits masochistic behaviors. Additionally, pugnacity, repulsion, fear, disgust, anger, and negative self-feelings accompany behavior. We have wars, and we have men sending off mother’s sons to injury or death. The military is advertised as seeing the world; adventure; having teamwork; and being all that you can be. However, the injury and suicide rate of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are significant. Yes, the environment and living conditions play a major role with one’s emotional state of being. We cannot discount the effects of the battle conditions and its effect on the emotional toll on these men. They experience closeness and bond with each other, and then find bits and pieces of their brothers bodies scattered. It’s no wonder that PTSD is a common diagnosis for returning vets. Let’s take someone who prefers suicide or assisted suicide. This person wants to end his life for any number of reasons. Emotionally, the ending of life is consonant with suicide. Once that decision is made, the person is unlikely to be open to revoking that position. No amount of persuasion or logic will make a change. When the person wants to die, the present becomes less pleasurable; his future looks bleak; and he is unable to contemplate growth, optimism and change. Anthony Bourdain was not afraid to die. He achieved fame through his cooking, was a famous TV personality, had a popular TV show and was well rewarded economically. Likely, he had a support system and resources to receive help. Although Bourdain had many ways to end his life, he chose a painful death. His emotional misery from depression was so pronounced that he was unable to think clearly and figure out a more satisfactory solution. He believed that he was banging his head against an unsurmountable barrier that he was unable to cross or penetrate. His belief in the future was void of significant or meaningful goals. His awards and attainments were simply symbolic realizations at best. These achievements did not adequately substitute or protect Boudain from depression. Instead, in his depression, he exhibited angry and aggressive impulses inward against self. He contemplated and fantasized about suicide, developed a plan and carried it through. Was it a rational, heroic, intelligent or a destructive act for him? One would have to be in Anthony’s shoes to perhaps more fully understand his thinking and all the elements or components within his life space at that particular moment of time .One could agree or disagree about his act being logical, sensible or violent. However, remember, a suicide gesture and behavior is always based on the perception of the beholder and is within man’s fragile will. PS Per the June 25, 2018 edition of Time, a quote by Graham Greene in his autobiography, Ways of Escape,” sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent to the human condition” had special meaning for Anthony Bourdain as he had a copy of this book on his nightstand. I’ll wager that by reading Greene’s autobiography additional clues will surface as Bourdain likely identified with this brilliant writer. According to Wikipedia, Greene’s book describes “his struggle to stave off terminal boredom rather than merely have a good time. Sometimes mildly heroic, often seedy with those stories of his life, he described his lifelong ennui, his frequent bouts of depression and his endless search for meaning in life he often appears to view as meaningless….. Impression that the author lived a very interesting and varied life, but not a happy one.”

Anthony Bourdain Part 2

We all know that emotion accompanies behavior since man is a thinking, perceiving, sensing, moving and an emotional Homo sapiens. We also know that man is irrational and does not always behave based on his interests. In Leon Festinger’s theory of Cognitive Dissonance, he believed that a discrepancy was an important condition for relevant motivation. Simply put, dissonance gives rise to a tension state, which is unpleasant and motivational. Then the individual will be oriented to reducing or eliminating the dissonance or unpleasant tension. And successful reduction of tension would be rewarding. Dissonance arises in the presence of information, bits of knowledge pertaining to self or others. It can be present or implied. It can be a thought, expectation, attitude, opinion or perception. Importantly, it can be an idea that has a significant emotional meaning pertinent to our perception of ourselves or belief system. That being the case, we’re open to like information and closed or discount ideas of opposition. Let’s take the belief that the earth is 6000 years old or such. In that view, man lived with the dinosaurs, sabretooth tigers, etc. If, that’s the case, we neither want to hear that the earth is 3.8 billion years old and was not formed in seven days, nor that the evolution of Homo sapiens, appeared about 70,000 years ago. We would more likely not read the scientific or biological journals relating to man’s origins, nor would we seek out lectures, movies or documentaries to that effect. If someone attempted to influence us with a different point of view, we would likely become angry. We would call it “fake news.” It would be a threat, dissonance, to our belief system. On the other hand, we would likely visit, a theme entertainment park based on the Old Testament stories with Adam and Eve, mastodons, and other prehistoric animals. That behavior would be consonant with our belief system. And yes, we can be illogical, irrational and employ denial because we are Homo sapiens. A more recent example of how man’s bias resulted in self-defeating behavior was found in a May 27, 2018 article in The New York Times. Briefly, a recent experiment demonstrated just that. Subjects were given a task to identify figures that had different shapes. Then, the participants received feedback as to whether their answers were right or wrong. These participants then observed the answers of four other co-players who were completing the same tasks. The participants were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a number of political statements such as “building a wall along the southern border would reduce illegal immigration.” The participants also observed the responses by 4 other co-players. To make the most money, the participants could learn from the co-player who best demonstrated the ability to identify the various shapes, regardless of political view. Unfortunately, the participants chose to agree with those co-players that matched their own views, regardless of their failure rate on the shapes. In essence, the participants lost money because they agreed with the politically like-minded co-players. They could’ve made more money by partnering up with those co-players that excelled at the task. The participants simply trusted like-minded individuals, or simply put, that resulted in an absence of dissonance. Politically, a contrary political view created dissonace to their belief system regardless of an opportunity to earn money. The dissonance resulted in a non-logical and rational decision. The tension or anxiety was stronger and interfered with smart decision-making. More to Follow

Anthony Bourdain

For the past few weeks I’ve had discussions with my friend Paul about the recent suicide of Anthony Bourdain .Paul and his wife Karen had this wonderful perception of Mr. Bourdain. They perceived him as being famous, worldly, engaging, wealthy, and a wonderful connoisseur and spokesman for superb tasting foods. And the fact that he traveled all over the world breaking bread with the natives about wine, food, and food preparation. In fact, he even got paid well to engage in this activity .Paul simply cannot understand this most personal and conscious act by Bourdain, in that it was not rational decision. Paul, being born and schooled in Athens Greece was no doubt versed and familiar with the writings of the famous Greek philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. These philosophers believed that knowledge, rationality, and the search for truth played a major role in virtuous conduct or right or wrong behavior. Further, that virtue through knowledge and rationality could control the passions. This meant that the mental aspect was superior to the sins of the flesh. And Aristotle believed that the highest aspect of human life was the pursuit of happiness, which was achieved through reason. Later on, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote about the evilness of impulses. He believed that impulses actually don’t bring pleasure, but instead result in pain. Not only that, but impulse gratification leads to satiation but not happiness. I am reminded of an exercise that I participated in one of my graduate classes held by Jacob Kounin. Briefly, Dr. Kounin drew a figure of a cat on the chalkboard and we were told to do the same, until he asked us to stop. This exercise demonstrated an example of satiation. Starting out, the drawn figure of the cat looked similar to the Professors. After minutes, the drawing errors mounted and the cat’s disfigurement developed more and more so. At the conclusion of the task, the cat drawings were placed randomly on the page. In essence, satiation took over, going from a positive valence, to a negative valence. Perhaps, if one ate a particular and favorite food [positive valence] three times a day, eventually, one would prefer something else as the food item would change from a positive to a negative valence. Sex would be another example. More to Follow

Too Many Suicides Part 3

All of us, have had mothers primarily responsible for our upbringing. And men have been largely responsible for sending sons off to war. Suicide is not legal in most states, regardless of one’s mental or physical condition. Jack Kevorkian was a pathologist in Michigan my home state. He assisted approximately 130 patients to end their life on their own terms. Government interfering in that most personal decision did not make any sense to me. In fact, the medical board in Michigan revoked his license; and he was found guilty of second-degree murder, despite the fact that Michigan had no law against assisted suicide. This was a miscarriage of justice. The right to life slogan is just a slogan and means what? Wars don’t count, do they? Our government protects Big Pharma and the food industry by not fully warning the consumer of the consequences of use of pesticides, chemicals and other GMO’s that contaminate our food and are used in household products .I would argue that poor physical health{ cancer and obesity associated with these elements} contributes to depression and likely harmful behavior to self. My friend Dr. Jim Steere was awakened while studying in Denmark on a Fulbright scholarship. Denmark with zero population growth had complete medical coverage for its citizens, and they viewed suicide as humane. To quote Jim in “It Has Nothing To Do With Age.” According to Jim, “in Denmark, suicide does not carry criminal charges or have a religious connotation. Jim’s grandfather, California pioneer. committed suicide by ingesting strychnine. In the US, shame and guilt are associated with suicide. It’s not openly discussed and is a crime and therefore punishable. The Danes are both more humanistic and progressive when it comes to depression and mental illness.” Source: Basic Handbook of Child Psychiatry, Disturbances of Development, Joseph D. Noshpitz, Editor

Too Many Suicides Part 2

Suicide and suicide attempts by children, adolescents are troubling with the fact that the first attempt surprises everybody, and as a result, prediction becomes difficult. Suicidal ideation is often a closely held secret. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and youth in United States. It is been estimated that about 12% of suicide attempts in our country are with adolescents and 90% of these by adolescent girls. Moreover, since 2010 there has been a 70% increase in suicide rate among girls ages 10 to 19. Ingestion of barbiturates, psychotropic drugs, tranquilizers and drugs combined with alcohol are typical. As far as childhood suicide attempts, they appear to be impulsive acts, often motivated by feeling badly treated. And by the desire to punish those who would grieve at their death. Often the child who threatens to kill himself is expressing rage towards parents, usually his mother. Those who do seriously attempt to kill themselves are usually emotionally disturbed with a pathological family situation as a rule with a very sick mother. Parental feelings toward the child include feeling the child was a burden and the child feels that he was expendable. Suicidal children often do not take part in school activities outside the classroom. They may have reading our learning difficulties. The child may also feel that he can no longer tolerate the pain of living and that his adaptive attempts to fill his need come to nothing. Regardless of the concept of death, he views it as a solution to his difficulties. Children suffer depression with behavioral and somatic symptoms as the outward manifestation. Essentially, they want to punish the significant persons in their life. A few statistics regarding suicidal behavior with children and adolescents. For example, 20 percent have a parent who attempted suicide; 40% have a parent, relative or close friend who attempted suicide; 72% have one or both natural parents absent from the home-divorced, separated or deceased; 84% of those with stepparents felt they were contending with being with a not wanting stepparent; 58% of the parents were married more than once; 16% have had serious problems with a current parent due to the parents alcoholism; and family show marked residential mobility. Specifically, an unusual number of school changes, and siblings leaving the home are common findings. To Be Continued

Too Many Suicides

The surprised recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain triggered memories in my past. In the early 1970s, Gail, a beautiful redhead, was the love of my life. She was bright, talented and full of life’s energy. I met her in San Francisco, while separated from my wife. We had a terrific love affair that resulted in her moving to Detroit while I was in graduate school completing my PhD. Unfortunately, we separated, and I did not see her for about 25 years. Surprisingly, I met her at my 40th high school reunion. She had married a classmate of mine. However, she was unhappy in that union. Within the next five years or so, I found out that she had committed suicide. In the late 1970s, I feel in love with another woman that I met in San Francisco at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute. Jackie, at that time, was working on her PhD and also had a volunteer position with Suicide Prevention of Alameda County. One might argue, that these two facts were coincidences. Maybe or maybe not. In any event, Bourdain’s suicide brings back pleasant memories along with sadness regarding Gail. I would’ve liked to been there with her in her last moments. A few thoughts regarding suicide. Aggression is part of man’s nature and frustration leads to aggression. Even though there is a drive for survival, man, not only kills others, but kills self. We do not find any hard data generalizing or duplicating that behavior with the animal world. In the recent mass shootings, the perpetrator becomes the victim of suicide, either killing self, being killed by others, or spending the rest of his life behind bars. Overall, roughly 2/3 of all suicides are by men; and with a greater percentage being between the ages of 15 and 30 or over 70 years of age. There’s been close to a 30% increase in suicides since 1999 and it has been reported that about 70% of individuals committing suicide have communicated with others prior to taking their own life. Further, in 2016 suicide was the 10th most leading b cause of death. For the population at large, mental disorders, including personality disorders alcoholism, substance misuse coupled with feeling alone; being not afraid to die, are associated with intentionally causing one’s own death. To Be Continued

Biological Age or Psychological Age Part 2

In relating identity to aging, it is clear that this is most important component. For instance, The Dictionary of Psychology defines personal identity as “psychologically, the sense or feeling of being the same person, based on common sensibility and continuity of aims, purposes and memories.” It seems to me that employing a number pertaining to an individual’s chronological age is not a useful description. A more useful description would be more like using the term “psychological age.” My friend Tony sent me a link with the message “somebody beat you to it.” Tony was referring to my term psychological age. In the link, in question, Disabled World published in 2014 and updated in 2017, what they called, was a real age calculator referred to as Biological Age. They claimed to compare Health Age; with Life Expectancy; and Typical Life Expectancy based on a questionnaire. Their questions employed health, medical, and personal habits to determine these actuarial numbers. Obviously, they employed more questions relating to habits and behaviors than to health and medical. One questionnaire does not fit everyone. We know that for Homo sapiens about 30% of who we are is based on DNA. Some disease conditions, height, strength and skin color are linked with DNA. I Disagree with John Watson. Based on DNA findings, human nature is not a blank tablet or tabula rasa. Yes, we are social animals and maybe 70% or so of who we are is based on environment, learning and experience. And because of our four basic processes [perception, movement, emotion and thinking] who we are and what we do is heavily influenced by our individual psychology. All our habits, behavior, beliefs, and mood is based on our individual psychology. As a result, psychological age is more inclusive, accurate, encompassing, influencing, and more specific than biological age. The term psychological age would not only take in aims, purposes, and memories, but more specifically would include important perceptions and expectancies pertaining to levels of physical activity or movement. In order to maintain and sustain activity levels, descriptions of physical and mental health self-talk, mood, feelings, drive and mental toughness are paramount. How an individual trains and conditions for the activity; how and what the individual eats nutritiously; and the other variables like how the individual maintains his life and life space would all be prescribed under the rubric of identity. Another way to put it, identity is not only what the person says about self, but also about the person’s choices and behavior. My purpose is not to come up with a particular number or tables like in life insurance. My task is to provide insight, understanding and a plan of action to be able to take in discrepant ideas for those wanting to change existing self-defeating patterns and dynamics around both birth and psychological age.

Biological Age or Psychological Age

After sustaining a horseback riding injury in 2009, in which I broke some bones in my neck, my first book “It Has Nothing To Do With Age” was published by Winter Goose in 2011. In that book, I focused on male and female athletes 65 years of age and older that were still competing in extraordinary sports. Many of these athletes were acquaintances that provided me with additional insights about their aging process. Simply put, their physical daily activities had to do with who they were as Homo sapiens. In other words, their competitiveness , their choices, their commitments and their ability to stick and persevere under varying conditions of stress in their particular sport or sports make up their identity. People, age differently which is reflected by who they are. Pay attention to the subject matter when having a conversation with a senior. Some, talk about their aches and pains; past or upcoming medical procedures like surgeries; or go on or bring up the many things that they used to do. These individuals more than likely have a psychological age, older than their birth age. One can argue that they are impaired. For others, talk centers around how good they look and feel; current and future plans regarding activities; compared to the doom and gloom and focusing on the “used to do.” These individuals have a psychological age that is younger than their chronological age. Psychologically speaking, Homo sapiens exhibit 4 basic processes. They perceive and sense. That is, he sees, tastes, smells, touches, and hears. Secondly, he moves and acts. That is, he walks, eats, swims, throws, climbs, etc. Thirdly, he feels or emotes. That is, he loves, hates, fears, becomes guilty, feels depressed, etc. Fourth, he reasons or thinks. That is, he remembers, imagines, hypothesizes, concludes, solves problems, etc. We know that none of these four basic processes are experienced in isolation. If the Homo sapiens perceives that he is different-he views himself looking older than his peers, his posture may be bent over as he walks; he may be depressed about his weight or physical health; and he may conclude that he’s not doing too well. With these Homo sapiens, their psychological state is significantly influenced but only in part by biological limitations. Mind and body are a two-way process. If one thinks he can’t run, then his body complies. If he is overweight and has bad knees, he believes that he can’t run and doesn’t run. Briefly put, how an individual perceives, thinks, acts, lives his life, emotes and feels about his daily activities determine who he is .Focus on actions and the ways in which he spends his time and it begins to paint a picture of his identity. It’s easier when in a career to have an identity related to that occupation. In retirement, one has to fill or re-create that gap in the 40 to 50 waking hours every week. To Be Continued

Race in America Part 3

While those specializing in genetics are linking DNA to disease, our political system is employing racial categories from a social- political point of view. In fact, respondents on census questionnaires are asked to choose from an arbitrary classification which race or races that they are. I imagine its difficult when one parent is light-skinned and the other parent a person of color. What if they been adopted and had never met or known about their birth parents? What’s being measured? Taking a look at questions pertaining to race from the 2010 U.S. Census: 5. is this person of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin? Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, 6. White, Black, African American or Negro, American Indian or Alaska Native, 6. Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, other Asian, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Other Pacific Islander, Some Other Race. From these questions, the US has gathered questionable statistics on ethnicity and color of skin .Country, location, ethnicity and nationality are addressed. Maybe, just maybe, eliminating the social construct race from a governmental, political, and prejudicial point of view and referring to humankind as Homo sapiens might be more accurate and truthful. Asking where you were born, where your parents were born and where your grandparents were born would be more accurate and more useful .We are a society of immigrants and Native Indians. PS Yes, even the native Indians migrated.

Race in America Part 2

Dr. Reich argued that we should be careful about drawing conclusions about race that involves constructs that can be modified by the environment. For instance, in studying performance on an intelligence test, factor in such variables as a number of years of schooling, the way a person was reared, and the socioeconomic factors of the parent’s .Genetics do not exist in isolation. Differentiating the percentage pertaining to genetics or nature and the percentage pertaining to nurture or environment are age-old relevant questions. In fact, a behaviorist John Watson emphasized learning and experience, or simply put, nurture, and believed that experience could be inscribed in any message on the tabula rasa, which is the blank slate of human nature. Dr. Watson stated in 1925 “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select-Doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and yes even beggar-man, and thief regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, locations and race of his ancestors.” This behaviorist incorporated the effect of negative learning regarding the development of social and political ideas of race. To illustrate, if a poor person of color is subjected to negative environmental influences, that Homo sapien is likely to develop negative character traits. My sister took part in a DNA testing. The results were 99.6% Ashkenazi and .4% Sephardic. Ashkenazi Jews refers to ethnicity of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe-Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Belarus. Sephardi Jews lived in the Iberian Peninsula-Spain, Portugal, and France. Although our parents were born the United States, both sets of grandparents were born in Russia. Location, location and location. My friend Tony’s early DNA story indicated 45% Europe, South; 20% Europe, West; 12% Caucasus and 11%, Scandinavia. Tony’s mother and grandparents were born in Italy, but he’s not sure about the birthplace of his father and his father’s parents. Does this make Tony half Italian? To Be Continued

Race in America

Biologists classify organisms into species. Species that have evolved from a common ancestor are linked together under the category of genus or the plural genera. Genera are then grouped into families such as Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens came into being around 70,000 years ago, even though the first humans evolved from East Africa roughly 2.5 million years ago. On a side note, Homo sapiens eliminated the Neanderthals. However, some might argue that the superior Homo sapiens won and attributed that to their superior brain power and aggressive nature. In any case, violence, irrationality, destruction and negative emotions like hate are the nature of Homo sapiens. Let’s visit The New York Times article in the March 25, 2018 edition titled “Race in the Age of Modern Genetics” by Dr. David Reich. Reich sets the stage for an understanding of race within biological science. In 1942, Ashley Montagu, the anthropologist, in his book, argued that race was a social concept that had no genetic basis. However, in 1972, Richard Lewontin, a geneticist employing a variation in protein types in blood, classified seven races-West Eurasians, Africans, East Asians, South Asians, Native Americans, Oceanians, and Australians. He stated that about 85% of variation in the protein types could be accounted for by variation within populations, and only about 15% variation across them. He added that “to the extent that there was variation among humans, most of that was because of differences between individuals.” From the data, a consensus established that among human populations, there were no significant differences to support the concept of race. Instead, race was considered a social construct, which is a way of categorizing people that changes over time and across countries. Dr. Lewontin wrote that human populations “are remarkably similar to each other” from a genetic point of view. However, Dr. Reich stated that groundbreaking advances in DNA sequencing have been made over the last two decades. And these advances enabled him to measure with accuracy what fraction of an individual’s genetic ancestry traces back to that say West Africa before the mixing in the Americas of the West Africans with European gene pools. He added that while race is a social construct differences in genetic ancestry correlate with some of today’s constructs. Dr. Reich used examples like skin color, bodily dimensions and susceptibility to disease. Moreover, Dr. Reich pointed out that the differences between males and females were most profound. In addition to anatomical biological differences between the sexes, were average differences in size and physical strength. To Be Continued