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Being predisposed to distrust people who look different is one example from the recent past. Back when people lived in frequently-warring tribes, someone who l

Being predisposed to distrust people who look different is one example from the recent past. Back when people lived in frequently-warring tribes, someone who looked different (either due to genetic differences or cultural differences) was far more likely to kill you. As far as I'm aware, cats don't care at all what colour fur other cats have.

jjk166 2y ago
Actually in hunter-gatherer societies inter-tribal violence is extremely rare, with intra-tribal violence being way more common. One has to remember that in hunter gatherer societies concepts like territory and property are not as important as in settled societies, and population densities are incredibly low. It's a very rare occasion when you interact with anyone outside your immediate community, and when you do it's almost certainly an interaction with a neighboring community that you've been collectively living near and interbreeding with for longer than anyone can remember. Violence in these societies tends to be part of personal feuds between individuals. Encountering someone from far enough away that they would be part of a distinct genetic or cultural group was basically unheard of. That's not to say it didn't happen at all, there would be migrations and smaller groups would potentially travel long distances out of necessity, but it simply was not a part of normal life. The idea that a fear of different looking people provided any meaningful benefit in the past simply does not pass the sniff test.
- cperciva 2y ago
  Right, when I said warring tribes I meant the period around 4-8 kya where valuable territories were being settled.
  - jjk166 2y ago
    That would not have an affect on human evolution. The time period was too short, too recent, and that was a series of independent local events. Further, wars were almost always between regional neighbors then as well.
    - cperciva 2y ago
      I'm not convinced. The black death had an effect on human evolution -- a single event with high mortality can be all it takes to shift the genome.
      - Denote6737 2y ago
        But that is directly due to the level of death. We have no evidence that half of the tribes in an area were wiped out.

jjk166 2y ago

Actually in hunter-gatherer societies inter-tribal violence is extremely rare, with intra-tribal violence being way more common. One has to remember that in hunter gatherer societies concepts like territory and property are not as important as in settled societies, and population densities are incredibly low. It's a very rare occasion when you interact with anyone outside your immediate community, and when you do it's almost certainly an interaction with a neighboring community that you've been collectively living near and interbreeding with for longer than anyone can remember. Violence in these societies tends to be part of personal feuds between individuals. Encountering someone from far enough away that they would be part of a distinct genetic or cultural group was basically unheard of. That's not to say it didn't happen at all, there would be migrations and smaller groups would potentially travel long distances out of necessity, but it simply was not a part of normal life. The idea that a fear of different looking people provided any meaningful benefit in the past simply does not pass the sniff test.

cperciva 2y ago
Right, when I said warring tribes I meant the period around 4-8 kya where valuable territories were being settled.
- jjk166 2y ago
  That would not have an affect on human evolution. The time period was too short, too recent, and that was a series of independent local events. Further, wars were almost always between regional neighbors then as well.
  - cperciva 2y ago
    I'm not convinced. The black death had an effect on human evolution -- a single event with high mortality can be all it takes to shift the genome.
    - Denote6737 2y ago
      But that is directly due to the level of death. We have no evidence that half of the tribes in an area were wiped out.