We see the past from a biased point of view. The present comprises societies that have survived, whereas the past comprises those that have not. There were many paths. But most led to dead ends.
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.
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.
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/