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> And I sometimes wonder if humans were smarter before civilization replaced evolution as the driving factor for intelligence. this is an odd proposition. evol
by leetcrew 9y ago
> And I sometimes wonder if humans were smarter before civilization replaced evolution as the driving factor for intelligence.
this is an odd proposition. evolution has not been replaced; rather, the evolutionary pressures have changed. in any case, civilization is not much more than 10,000 years old, which is pretty short in evolutionary timescales.
and although we employ some measures (ie social services) to prevent the weakest from dying outright, it seems like long term strategic thought is more important than ever. for instance, it takes 5-7 years for a high school grad to get a master's degree. can you really envision an adult hunter-gatherer working towards something for that long without seeing the fruits of their labor? their environment mandated a much shorter term focus to avoid starvation or lethal competition from other humans.
- phendrenad2 9y agoWell, if humans haven’t changed in 10,000 years then the author’s thought that domesticated animals are different is also false.
- sangnoir 9y agoWhat are you basing that assertion on? For starters, animals had way more generations than humans in those 10,000 years - probably by an order of magnitude or 2 depending on the animal.
- bachbach 9y agoThis: > it seems like long term strategic thought is more important than ever is true for the minority only. Of course any description of what's happening and what can be done to prevent it is to the right of the Overton Window and is thus illegal to discuss on this forum.