Quote:
Originally Posted by The Gaijin
Damascus Syria is the longest consistantly inhabitied place on earth - some 7000 years. Chinese civilization is at least 5000 years old. Until 1500 or so years ago - northern Europe was covered with forest with a patchwork of hamlets connected by trails. The life of the inhabitants was short and brutish. No literacy, no organized education, no nothing. From the end of the dark ages till now it has been a pretty good run..but that could come to an end. It is an confluence of history and events - nothing to do with any "evolution" or special genes..
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I don't think anyone is implying that "racial superiority" by virtue of selection is operating here. Only that there may have been some selection that has shifted the "curve slightly" (Gaussian). These are very complex social, cultural, geographic, and political issues.
I think genetics do play a role and I think there is reasonable evidence for this. If you look at our recent human history including western civilization, you see very high reproductive mortality rates up until just this last century (and even today among certain sub-populations). This means that there has been significant selection operating via differential reproductive success even in the "civilized". However, cultural and technological co-evolution concurrent with reproductive selection makes it difficult to assign a weighted "value".
Remember, recent genetic studies show modern "stone-age" humans to be "healthier" genetically than those of us of western descent.