5-part interview with Greg Cochran

My favorite part of the series:

2B: From another reader: "Depiction of trickster gods in West Africa seems a bit positive, at worst morally neutral. In Northern Europe, Loki was a clear-cut villain. Could that contrast come from selection-induced personality differences?"

GC: And yet Bugs Bunny is our hero. I think this line of analysis is about as sound and solid as Citibank.

2B: What are some of the other cultural developments that might rank, if not entirely up there with agriculture, almost up there? And how might they or would they have influenced human evolution?

I would have guessed that types of "regular" warfare would be there too.

(Note... haven't read the book yet, but ordered it, and am waiting for it to arrive, so it's entirely possible that that's in there too.)

Also, what about something like the Police (and other agents that try to "monopolize" coercion in a culture). I would imagine that they have a selective influence also? Could it result in a certain kinds of tameness?

Charles,
It's interesting to consider states, including England, that executed people for - well, just about everything, right on down to petty theft. Heritability of criminality today is disputed, I vaguely understand; at most it's not that large - but it could have been larger in the past. Killing criminals for centuries would be expected to reduce the heritable variation at least a little bit, if we assume that it succeeds in sharply reducing their fitness.

@Eric J. Johnson, you said...

Charles,
It's interesting to consider states, including England, that executed people for - well, just about everything, right on down to petty theft. Heritability of criminality today is disputed, I vaguely understand; at most it's not that large - but it could have been larger in the past. Killing criminals for centuries would be expected to reduce the heritable variation at least a little bit, if we assume that it succeeds in sharply reducing their fitness.

I'm not arguing for the heritability of criminality. (I actually remember watching a show a long time ago that showed that the psychological makeup of [gangster-type] criminals was the same as the psychological makeup of the cops.)

However, such actions as the one you described (and other types of actions) might have a selective effect none the less (even if it is not the one they may have wanted).

Maybe it resulted in selection against higher levels of adrenaline (in some populations). (I.e., selection for lower levels of adrenaline.) Although that's just a wild guess.

Had comment on 2bheads impression about Chinese. Chinese does not appear smart on street level or conversation. But they are good at figuring thing out at end. Rushton had observed that in class room.

Based on superficial impression without g loaded test, most African tribal men might be more `intelligent' than Chinses `dumb' farmers.

大æºè¥æ=He knows most who speaks least.; Still water runs deep.; A man of great wisdom often appears slow-witted.; An empty vessel makes the most sound.

Above Chinese saying is well appreciated by Rushton, certainly not 2blowheads.

Cochran may be right: we can't learn anything at all about about a people from their myths and stories. On the other hand, I've heard of more Nigerian email scams than Norwegian ones.