Humans aren't even remotely the most genetically diverse creatures on Earth.Solomen wrote...
I've seen people putting down Mordin's claim that humans have more genetic variability than other sapient species. In the case of salarians, krogans, drell and quarians he is absolutely correct. I don't have enough information to make a determination on the other species such as turians so I'll take Mordin's word for it.
If the writers want to better explain it (if they're listening!), they should just say that humans are the most phenotypically and functionally varied creatures on the planet and in the galaxy. It's made obvious by the many variations in human faces (which is more because of the ME graphics team made it that way). Humans also vary differently in that their civilizations allowed them freedom of choice and thus they retain different types of information and memories from each other. The geography of Earth and its varying climates also add to this.
Other civilizations like the Salarians, Krogans, Volus and Turians have very rigid societies (in part due to their physiology) in which most members are guaranteed to play only a specific role. Thus, their "essence" (as EDI called it -- when she was describing the Human Reaper) doesn't vary much from person to person.
For humans, every essence is unique. One human can live in close proximity to another but have unique interests, beliefs, occupations, preferences and memories. In other societies, Krogans are stuck in the mindset of fighting for breeding requests, Turians are rule-abiding and focused on military discipline, and Volus are focused on gathering and trading resources. Sure, there are exceptions (like Garrus or Wrex), but there isn't anywhere near as many exceptions as with humans, who have exceptions to the exceptions from the exceptions -- and Commander Shepard is one major exception.
What causes the varied phenotypes? Humans managed to survive in varying environments. While most inheritance is obviously from genetics, there is still a limited amount of inheritance by acquired characteristics due to maternal effects and the fact that the mother supplies much more to the initial developing zygote/embryo than the father does.
The Asari are also genetically and/or phenotypically varied (again, because the graphics team for BioWare focused on their faces next) possibly for the same reasons. However, their reliance on other species (and their lack of two genders) suggests that there is little to no genetic recombination during Asari reproduction. Thus, they have to rely on other phenotypically or functionally varied species outside their planet in order to produce varied offspring, because other species genes' trigger that genetic process.
Since the Asari couldn't reproduce with such species until they became spacefaring, they are less varied than humans whose DNA was capable of genetic recombination from the very start.
(Too Long/Didn't Read Version: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, BUT MY AVATAR IS A BLUE SUNS MERCENARY -- YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID)
It's ironic because it appears that the Reapers also rely on other species for reproduction (unless they're fornicating in dark space for 50,000 years).mentosman8 wrote...
I'll quote Harbinger on the Asari "reliance on other species for reproduction shows genetic weakness." Similarly, the "father" doesn't actually contribute anything to the child, it essentially just flips a coin for some of the genes, so there's not as much ability for the DNA to change drastically.
Turians I'm not sure on though.
At the same time, the Reapers say that the Turians are too primitive. It's possible that the extreme radiation on the Turian homeworld hindered further evolution by wiping out large amounts of Turians at one time (causing a constant population bottleneck).
Modifié par Ecael, 18 avril 2010 - 12:49 .
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