The only functional value to the concept of race is in understanding cultural differences and biases.
I think the only functional use of the racial construct as we experience it in the U.S. is to provide a sophistic basis for folks to
- invent and promote derisive generalizations about other folks who are different from themselves, and
- invent and promote aggrandizing generalizations about other folks who are similar to themselves.
It may be that race is useful in guiding a small handful of medical regimens. For example, certain physiological maladies are far more common in one race than they are in others. It makes sense then that doctors would look for a "common to whites" ailment as the cause of a white person's illness before testing for a "common to Asians" ailment as the cause.
Race could be used over time to breed out of the human species the recessive genes that hinder each of the races. I don't know when or if folks will figure that out and use it to their advantage. I'm not suggesting that, say, black folks actively seek out, say, Asians, because Asians are less prone to sickle cell anemia, nor am I saying that Asians should actively seek black mates to increase body mass or penis size (humor), but I'm saying that it would be beneficial to both if they don't actively eschew such pairings. After all, we know that species survival is greatly enhanced my more cross breeding rather than less.
Every other species on the planet chooses mates based on demonstrated genetic superiority. Why humans have actively gone against Mother Nature's "good sense" is quite beyond me, especially as we, unlike every other creature on the planet, know beyond a shadow of doubt that one cannot fool or elude Mother Nature.
