Tue, May-26-09, 21:18
|
|
Senior Member
Posts: 1,259
|
|
Plan: VLC
Stats: 295/220/160
BF:
Progress: 56%
|
|
Finally got a copy of the aforementioned "The 10,000 Year Explosion". It's interesting, they acknowledge the sudden decline in the health of those who adopted agriculture, but then argue that it resulted in naturally selecting those mutations that made some better able to handle the new foods, especially grains and dairy. The book starts with a Stephen Jay Gould quote about how our bodies have not changed in 40,000-50,000 years and then dismisses it saying evolution has actually accelerated more in the last 10,000 years than in the previous 6,000,000 mostly because of our technological advances. It turns some of the usual arguments upside down. For example they claim that when "primitive" peoples are introduced to our diet, the sudden decline in their health shows that their genes lack the adaptations which have been bred into the civilized world.
P.S.: The wolves to dogs thing is a good chunk of the first chapter.
|