"We are all different, we are all relatives”

About a decade ago, when we established File Market, we conducted a product tree study on the classification of product groups, including the fruits and vegetables category. During this study, while classifying vegetables and fruits, we realized that many products commonly known as vegetables among the public were scientifically classified as fruits. We had been taught that fruits grow on trees and vegetables grow on the ground. However, reality was not as we knew it. According to research, foods with seeds are classified as 'fruits.' For example, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, olives and okra, which we categorized as vegetables, are actually fruits!

Recently, during my overseas travel, the book 'The Most Beautiful History of Man’ (La Plus Belle Histoire de l'homme) that I read took me back to those days.

The book, providing a different perspective on human history, consists of responses from three French experts in their fields: André Langaney, Jean Clottes, and Jean Guilaine, interviewed by Dominique Simonnet, the Editorial Director of L'Express magazine. It contains intriguing questions about humanity and, more importantly, information that challenges our assumptions about things we thought we knew. Just as I became aware of the fruit-vegetable issue ten years ago, this time I experienced it with regard to people.

The book is divided into three "acts": 'The Conquest of Territory,' 'The Conquest of the Imaginary,' and 'The Conquest of Power.' Personally, what surprised me was the answers André Langaney gave about the human race in the "first act" titled 'The Conquest of Territory.' Langaney states regarding the human race: "In the last ten to thirty thousand years, genes have not changed much. The things that have changed are external physical appearance, shapes, colors, and especially cultures, religions, and languages." He adds,

?"Some people believe that humanity can be divided into clearly separated races. This is impossible. Saying that people cannot be classified does not mean there is no difference between them. On the contrary the diversity of human beings is limitless, excessive. It is astonishing. We all form a single species, we all come from the same ancestors and we all speak different languages derived from a single language. However, as individuals, each of us is unique. In reality, the human species consists only of singular, unique cases. Everyone is different from everyone else. Since our first ancestors, 80 billion people have passed through the Earth one after another. However, in human history, there has never been anyone like you or me. Therefore, we are all different, and we are all relatives."

After reading the book, I pondered. I explored what has been written on this subject in various sources. I realized that the concepts that biologically differentiated people in the past have lost their scientific validity today and are only used as political arguments. From the perspective of life sciences, there is no concept that makes people superior or classifies them. The term 'race' has no scientific basis.

In these times when painful wars continue in our vicinity, I believe that the whole world needs to think more deeply about these issues. Many great atrocities and sorrows in both present and past times often have behind them the notion of racial or ethnic superiority, racism, and excessive group feeling (asabiyyah). These are narcissistic illusions with no scientific basis…

Wouldn't a future where we create common values through our similarities be much more promising for all societies?

#anthropology #science #people #diversity #book #read #fruit #vegetable #supremacy #racism