Is farming to blame?

 <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2002684/Were-getting-smal
ler-brains-shrinking--farming-blame.html>

We're all getting smaller and our brains are shrinking... is farming to
blame?

Cambridge University experts say humans are past their peak and that
modern-day  people are 10 per cent smaller and shorter than their
hunter-gatherer ancestors.

And if that¹s not depressing enough, our brains are also smaller.
The findings reverse perceived wisdom that humans have grown taller and
larger, a belief which has grown from data on more recent physical
development.

(cont.)
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True
conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
<http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/>

 Billy wrote:

Large size is not as much an advantage in farming as it is in hunting.


Brain size is highly correlated with intelligence speciies to species.

Brain size is poorly correlated with intelligence within a species.

There's no sign that we have been losing intelligence along with brain
size.  Except UseNet posts.  Those are a pretty good sign.  ;^)

 

I got a pretty big punkin head.  And I'm a better hunter then a  farmer

You mind splaining your statement about big heads are better for hunting.

 DogDiesel wrote:

Other way around is the suspicion.  I read this in an article in
Discover or Scientific Amercian in the last couple of years so it isn't
a speculation I made up on my own.  The article Billy cited is likely in
the same family of studies as the one I read in the magazine, but I
ended up with a different viewpoint on the topic.

Human evolution kept driving both or bodies and brains bigger as we went
from root chomping Australopithicene genus to sharp rock wielding Homo
genus.  But recent evolution within Homo Sapiens has not had the same
drivers.  Farming has favored smaller bodies and brains while also
favoring intelligence. For brains the evolutionary pressure went from
smarter at any cost for hunting in energy to as smart for as little
energy as possible to survive years with bad crop yields.

As a result there are humans large and small and the variation in our
intelligence is independent of our individual body size or or individual
brain size.

It takes smarts to develop a selective breding program of crops to
increase yield and variety of choices much like it takes smarts to track
and kill critters.  It only takes a small body to dig crops, especially
with sophistocated farming implements like an antler spike or a sharp
rock.  It takes a pretty big body to carry home a deer that was killed
with a sophisticated hunting implement like a bow and arrow.  Ranching
includes selective breeding for docility.  Domesticated herds can be
managed by smaller people than wild herds can be hunted.

What this means is a small smart person can figure out to select a wild
plant and start breeding it as a garden project.  One more vegitable
added to the tables of humanity.  And that's why some of us are short!

 
Nah... You got it backwards :)

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view.html

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R  (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)