Re: Culture skews human evolution

VoiceOfReason wrote:
(PhysOrg.com) -- The rise of agriculture 10,000 years ago meant the
end of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle for which human beings had been
optimized by millions of years of evolution and the beginning of an
era where culture encourages habits unhealthy for us and for the world
around, with uncertain evolutionary outcomes.

?Our bodies are not that well designed for the world we have created,?
said anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman.

Lieberman spoke March 5 in the third of the Harvard Museum of Natural
History?s (HMNH) ?Evolution Matters? lecture series. His talk, called
?Survival of the Fleetest, Smartest or Fattest?? reviewed the
evolutionary trends that led to modern humans and discussed the
cultural reasons for some of today?s major health ills, such as
obesity and diabetes.

Lieberman, who was introduced by HMNH Executive Director Elisabeth
Werby, said the four most significant events in human history were our
separation from apes; the evolutionary development of the genus Homo,
shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo erectus; and the
separation of our species, Homo sapiens, from our common ancestor with
other Homo species.

The final event, Lieberman said, was a cultural one, not an
evolutionary one. The beginnings of agriculture 10,000 years ago
created lasting change that led to modern society and our modern way
of life.

Farming culture allowed human women to give birth more frequently,
spurring population growth. It also led to the spread of disease, as
humans were in close contact with a variety of animal species, such as
chickens, pigs, and cows, providing an environment in which animal
viruses could pass into humans. It also led to the protection of
people who physically might not survive in a hunter-gatherer society,
and the rise of conditions and ailments such as myopia and diabetes.

The result, Lieberman said, is a cultural buffering of evolution?s
harsh rule of ?survival of the fittest? that may be leading to the
?dysevolution? of Homo sapiens.

Though scientific opinion varies on whether evolution is still acting
on humans, Lieberman said it probably is, pointing to relatively
recent developments of lactose tolerance in adults ? allowing them to
consume dairy products long after weaning ? and of pale skins in those
from northern climates.

To understand the roots of ?dysevolution,? one must understand where
humans came from, Lieberman said. Descended from a common ancestor
with chimpanzees between 6 million and 8 million years ago, early
primitive humans like Sahelanthropus and Ardipithecus were very
chimplike but walked upright. Lieberman traced this adaptation to
climate change, namely a planetary cooling that transformed large
tracts of thick jungle to open woodlands where walking would be a more
efficient form of locomotion than either the climbing or knuckle-
walking at which chimps excel.

The next change, Lieberman said, was driven by an additional cooling,
which led to further thinning of the forests and the rise of savannah.
From these changes arose the genus Homo between 2 million and 3
million years ago. Early human ancestors evolved different adaptations
to survive on the savannah, with an Australopithecus species becoming
adapted to large amounts of low-quality food, as evidenced by their
large teeth.

The Homo genus evolved a different way of life, adapting for high-
quality, high-energy foods, and becoming good at running in the heat
of the day to engage in ?persistence hunting? to run down exhausted
prey species.

The first Homo sapiens appeared about 200,000 years ago and may have
evolved from Homo heidelbergensis, Lieberman said, and continued to
invent new tools and technology, spreading out of Africa to Europe,
Asia, and other parts of the world. We were smart, inventive, highly
mobile endurance athletes who cooked our food to get more energy from
it. We were also relatively fast breeders when compared with other
apes, with a baby every three years.

These evolutionary solutions were successful, Lieberman said, but
energy intensive. The problem today, Lieberman said, is that
humanity?s ?gas guzzling? strategies, which enabled them to survive on
the African savannah and expand around the world, aren?t always
helpful in an era with ready fast food, sugar-rich snacks, and
steadily decreasing demand for physical exertion.

?Obviously, they stood us in good stead until the very recent past,?
Lieberman said.

Since we can?t will ourselves to evolve so that we don?t crave high-
energy foods, Lieberman said we should instead encourage our inner
hunter-gatherer by requiring more physical activity of our kids in
schools, raising gasoline taxes to discourage driving, outlawing fast
food, and restricting access to elevators, escalators, and moving
sidewalks to force us to walk more.

?We need to think more like Darwin and act more like hunter-
gatherers,? Lieberman said.

http://www.physorg.com/news156100530.html

Such nonsense

In order for Homo to evolve with changing weather patterens that would mean
Homo had to develop (or evolve) the necessary survival features in a
relativly short period.

We see no such evolution taking place in short bursts.






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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Culture skews human evolution
    ... said anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman. ... Natural History?s?Evolution Matters? ... Homo, shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo erectus; ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Culture skews human evolution
    ... said anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman. ... Natural History?s?Evolution Matters? ... Homo, shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo erectus; ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Culture skews human evolution
    ... said anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman. ... Natural History?s?Evolution Matters? ... genus Homo, shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Culture skews human evolution
    ... said anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman. ... Natural History?s?Evolution Matters? ... genus Homo, shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Culture skews human evolution
    ... Lieberman spoke March 5 in the third of the Harvard Museum of Natural ... the evolutionary development of the genus Homo, ... shared by modern humans, Neanderthals, and Homo erectus; ... Though scientific opinion varies on whether evolution is still acting ...
    (talk.origins)
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