2 ms·
> a small population loses cultural knowledge over time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family is a good example
by 082349872349872 3y ago
> a small population loses cultural knowledge over time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family is a good example that n=6 is way too few (even if the cultural knowledge is still there, the material goods, eg seed stock, hit absorbing barriers).
Do we have any reasonable (astrophysics-level) estimates of the population sizes necessary or sufficient to support some transect of various cultural and technological practices?
- AlotOfReading 3y agoWe do, but they're wild guesses based almost entirely on usubstantiated theoretical models. They're mostly useful for arguments between academics, not to guide any sort of intuition as to sustainable population levels.