According to the book 1493 at the time of Columbus almost of the land in southern China suitable for rice cultivation was already being used. The Columbian Exchange led to the introduction of sweet potatoes and maize which could be grown on sloped land unsuitable for rice cultivation. This lead to an enormous expansion in China’s population.
Fascinating. Cultural evolution is an area that is relatively unexplored. Genetic evolution is slow, but cultural evolution allowed us to transmit skills, values, and ideas within generations.
I suspect founder effects among the small populations that initiated the East Asian farmers (along with Indonesia-Europeans and Bantu) are likely to account for some of the population level difference that persist today. Also it is worth considering the role of prodynorphin copy number in collective psychology (2 copies for East Asians, 3 for everyone else). There are likely other population scale differences in neurogenetics yet to be discovered.
According to the book 1493 at the time of Columbus almost of the land in southern China suitable for rice cultivation was already being used. The Columbian Exchange led to the introduction of sweet potatoes and maize which could be grown on sloped land unsuitable for rice cultivation. This lead to an enormous expansion in China’s population.
Rice isn't that nutritious. I prefer meat. 🍖
Fascinating. Cultural evolution is an area that is relatively unexplored. Genetic evolution is slow, but cultural evolution allowed us to transmit skills, values, and ideas within generations.
Genetics can change in a mere centuries if the selection pressures are strong enough. Europeans genetics changed a lot between 1000 and 1850.
I suspect founder effects among the small populations that initiated the East Asian farmers (along with Indonesia-Europeans and Bantu) are likely to account for some of the population level difference that persist today. Also it is worth considering the role of prodynorphin copy number in collective psychology (2 copies for East Asians, 3 for everyone else). There are likely other population scale differences in neurogenetics yet to be discovered.
I remember reading this before and after some searching I found it on unz.com! It was you who wrote it!
https://www.unz.com/pfrost/rice-farming-and-gene-culture-co/