Do you know that 130 scientists jointly condemned a bestseller?

130 famous geneticists jointly condemned a bestseller recently published by Wade, a famous science journalist, and opposed the new method of species division proposed in the book, pointing out that the genetic differences among ethnic groups have an important impact on the global economy, politics and society. This has obviously become a major event in the field of science. "Nature" and "Science" reported this event at the same time, which shows that its popularity is very high, and it should not be because of their feelings for their old employees.

The best-selling book A Troubled Legacy was written by Nicholas Wade, a famous science journalist, and published in new york Penguin Publishing House in June this year. This 278-page new book was quickly criticized, and most of the criticism came from scientists. These scientists strongly question the book's view that genetic differences rather than cultural differences explain why western governments are more stable than African governments. Wade is a former science journalist and editor of The New York Times, Science and Nature.

The best-selling book A Troubled Legacy was written by Nicholas Wade, a famous science journalist, and published by new york Penguin Publishing House in June this year.

An open letter of "Who's Who in Population Genetics and Human Chemistry" was published in The New York Times on August 10, which reflected that scientists had a very United attitude towards the book, which was very rare in the past. Wade's new book quotes the works of many signed scientists as reference.

The open letter pointed out: Wade's book contains many incredible ideas. His main point is that the recent natural evolution of human beings has led to differences in IQ, political system and economic development model among different races. We totally disagree with using our research as the basis to support his wrong remarks.

Wade believes that this open letter is driven by political interests. He was sure that many signers didn't read his new book carefully, but were influenced by a distorted summary provided by a biased organizer.

Wade stressed that he would contact the authors of the open letter, MichaelEisen and GrahamCoop of the University of California, Davis, because the mistakes in the book were listed in the open letter, and he would revise them in future editions. According to Wade, Cooper didn't respond, but Eisen promised to respond in the future.

Wade believes that his book mainly puts forward that opposing racism should rely on theory, rather than relying on anti-evolutionary myths without racial and biological basis.

Coop said that the idea of an open letter came into being at an academic conference. Everyone shared the same desire and were very dissatisfied with Wade's misrepresentation of their academic works.

The first part of the new book summarizes the research on human genetics, and he uses the research evidence of genetic diversity model to support his redefinition of race according to geographical location. In addition, it is pointed out that after human beings left Africa 50,000 years ago, people's skin color and eating habits in these areas have changed due to environmental differences in different regions. For example, in order to illustrate that people outside Africa are under more pressure of choice caused by more environmental changes, he quoted a paper published by COOP in 2002, which wrote, "One hypothesis is that when people leave the African continent and enter a new environment, they will encounter new selection pressures, and these new environmental selection pressures will enable these people to acquire new phenotypes." But Coop thinks Wade is out of context, such as ignoring his statement that Africans are actually under more pressure of environmental choice.

In order to prove his viewpoint of dividing races by region, Wade cited a study of 1056 whole gene sequence analysis involving people from different parts of the world. According to genetic similarity, these people are divided into different groups. If they are divided into five groups according to their genetic similarity, it is found that ethnic groups can be divided into five categories: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and America/Pacific Islands, and their genetic difference distribution and regions show very good correlation. So Wade proposed to divide the earth people into five races by region.

Skof thinks it's too casual to classify people like Wade. For example, in a study in 2009, they found that Africans have 14 different subgroups, which may be the basis of genetic differences in different parts of the world. Although regional differences do exist, there are no strict boundaries. Although she agrees that the selection of conditions in different natural and social environments in different regions can indeed produce biological differences, her team found that some Africans cannot digest lactose because of genetic defects. She laughed at Wade's point of view, because Wade thought that natural selection made people have cognitive and behavioral differences (why not? )。 Although Wade quotes scientists' research positively in the book, Wade's image of claiming to be a spokesman for science is disgusting.

Although I don't agree with Wade's point of view, especially the idea of dividing races by region. But personally, I agree with Wade's courage to put forward new ideas boldly. From the political and cultural point of view, mankind hopes that the world will be in harmony and everyone will be equal. But human beings have never been equal, and it is impossible to be equal. Racial differences do exist, although Wade's views cannot be recognized by scientists. But the differences between different races, especially the differences of some talents, obviously exist. As we all know, the contribution of Jews to natural science is obviously much higher than that of other kinds of people, and the proportion of Jews controlling world wealth is also quite high. Maybe it's not that Jews' genes are very different from other races, or it's cultural factors, but culture is also hereditary. Therefore, the genetic differences between different races exist objectively. Heredity itself is produced to adapt to the environment, and the influence of the environment on heredity is inevitable. Intelligence and behavior are also phenotypic in nature. Why can't there be a difference? Admitting that there is a race is itself acknowledging differences, because differences are the absolute basis for dividing races. Science should not be rejected because of political and emotional factors, and it is sometimes more difficult for scientists to correct their long-held views.

Although it is uncertain whether this view can be finally recognized, it is certain that this bestseller will be more popular than the original. Whether it is popular or not has nothing to do with correctness. The collective opposition of scientists can only achieve the market of this book from the end. Just like Pauling's best-selling book about vitamin C, false statements also have readers and markets.

The formation of a new scientific paradigm always needs revolution!

(Author: Professor Sun Department of the Second Military Medical University)