What if Homo erectus was alive today?

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3. the genetic differences between races manifests in physical differences that a 3 year old child can recognize

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And yet, when Bruce Willis referred to Maggie Q's character as an Asian chick in Die Hard yesterday; it prompted a heated argument in our living room about whether she looked at all Asian.I think both viewpoints are right in a way. There are physical differences between races, but because there's no reproductive isolation it's incredibly difficult to actually categorise people by them. Race as we usually talk about it is a social construct, as the definitions we use are decided by our social history. As Meldinoor points out, Obama is considered black - despite having plenty of European ancestry and not being very dark-skinned at all. People like Maggie Q are considered Asian, even though she's half-European. In parts of Latin America, people are still lumped into categories such as black, white, Indian, mestizo, mulatto etc. even though these are often poorly representative of their genetic heritage in such a mongrelised region.A three year old cannot identify someone's genetics just by looking at them - they'd pick up on a few obvious visual clues like skin tone. Take a look at this chap: Now, I'd guess which race most three year olds (or 33 year olds) would place him in. But analysis of 40 different genetic markers produced an estimate of only 31% African heritage, contrasted with 67% European. This is what's meant when people talk about race as social construct.

Not really. Your Y-chromosone haplogroup only records your direct male line ancestry, so sharing the haplogroup with someone on another continent may just record just one isolated common ancestor from many many generations ago who just happens to be the direct male line ancestor of you both. You're still going to be more genetically similar to the rest of your tribe, generally.A bit more on topic, we already have other species on the planet that can demonstrate self-awareness, problem solving abilities, tool use etc. We can already see that our differences are matters of degree. I think an interesting question that would be raised by living Homo erectus would be whether we have a greater responsibility towards other non-human animals. If we extend to them greater rights and legal protection than we offer for animals, some people are going to ask whether chimpanzees and dolphins shouldn't have greater rights and protection than salamanders and beetles (for example).

Only if he was religious.