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So many people make the mistake that it is either culture OR genetics that is the answer for why some ancestral groups excel.
The real answer is that each CULTURE selects for GENES that excel in that specific culture.
In other words, it’s very much BOTH.
1/x https://twitter.com/profreshionalgh/status/1329193282790973444
The real answer is that each CULTURE selects for GENES that excel in that specific culture.
In other words, it’s very much BOTH.
1/x https://twitter.com/profreshionalgh/status/1329193282790973444
For example, if your culture highly rewards intelligence such that the more intelligent have more offspring, your culture will become more intelligent over time.
If your culture rewards hunting and war instead, your culture will instead become more violent over time.
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If your culture rewards hunting and war instead, your culture will instead become more violent over time.
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This explains why China, NW Europe and Ashkenazi Jews grew more intelligent: they created cultures that caused the more intelligent to have more offspring.
(See Unz, Clark and Cochran, respectively.)
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(See Unz, Clark and Cochran, respectively.)
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By contrast, hunter gather tribes have been documented to reward the best hunters with more children.
You reward that which your society values.
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https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.409.1509&rep=rep1&type=pdf
You reward that which your society values.
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https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.409.1509&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Henrich has shown in detail that it is culture that led to chunks of human evolution, not the other way around.
Using fire to cook, for example, led directly to a shortening of our digestive tract compared to apes.
5/x https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691178431/the-secret-of-our-success
Using fire to cook, for example, led directly to a shortening of our digestive tract compared to apes.
5/x https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691178431/the-secret-of-our-success
This is why the great divide in our world continues to be between those societies which developed agriculture and then evolved gentics traits suited to it (patience, intelligence, domestication) and those that were hunter-gatherers until recently.
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So when people look at Chinese and say “They excel because they value intelligence, hard-work, family” they don’t understand (and haven’t done the research) that for millenia in China, the most intelligent, hardest working, family-valuing Chinese mutliplied at higher rates.
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That is not to say that hunter-gatherer tribes didn’t value “intelligence”.
Of course they did.
Their intelligence was just specialized in a different form. Recognizing tracks vs. abstract math, for example.
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Of course they did.
Their intelligence was just specialized in a different form. Recognizing tracks vs. abstract math, for example.
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This is why the objection that IQ tests are “culturally-dependent” is bullshit.
Of course they are!
We developed a test that correlates with success in an industrial culture:
*Why would anyone be surprised that those who evolved within those cultures do better at them?*
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Of course they are!
We developed a test that correlates with success in an industrial culture:
*Why would anyone be surprised that those who evolved within those cultures do better at them?*
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If Aborigines developed a hunting test, call it the AQ, those from industrial societies would do poorly at it.
But other hunter-gatherers would do comparatively better.
It’s a benchmark that is culturally-specific and our culture hasn’t rewarded the traits for centuries.
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But other hunter-gatherers would do comparatively better.
It’s a benchmark that is culturally-specific and our culture hasn’t rewarded the traits for centuries.
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But it’s irrelevant because any “intelligence” is, by definition, culturally specific.
Intelligence can not be viewed independently of its specific culture.
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Intelligence can not be viewed independently of its specific culture.
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The problem is that those from traditional hunter-gatherer societies are trying to integrate into our culture and not the other way around.
They haven’t been selecting traits needed for success in industrial societies for anywhere near as long.
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They haven’t been selecting traits needed for success in industrial societies for anywhere near as long.
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“Chinese have this great culture for success” and the unsaid ugly thing is Native Americans, for example, don’t?
This is right, but only in the context that Chinese have an ancient culture suited to indust. society.
But Native American culture is transitioning from H&G.
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This is right, but only in the context that Chinese have an ancient culture suited to indust. society.
But Native American culture is transitioning from H&G.
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When you look at those rankings of IQ scores by ancestry group, it should come as no suprise that those who have been transitioning to Ag/Industrial society the longest are at the top.
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It’s a transition that won’t occur overnight, because part of the issue is genetics. These cultures need time to a) value and b) evolve these traits.
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So, yes, it is “Chinese culture” that leads to their success. But it’s much, much more than that.
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