Re: Shrinking brains in evolution

Perplexed in Peoria <jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Anthony Campbell" <ac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote...
Jared Diamond, in (I think) _Guns, Germs and Steel_ says that he found
the inhabitants of New Guinea to be often more intelligent than many
Westerners. He also thinks that since the invention of agriculture there
may have been a decline in intelligence over-all.

Which is a bit odd, since he also says that New Guinea is where agriculture
was invented.

No he does not. He clearly says it began in the fertile crescent (and in
Mesoamerica independently). New Guinea may have been early, but its
domestication of local species of crops occurred c7000BCE, while
southwest Asia and the fertile crescent date to around 8500BCE (acc. to
his book).

I'm uncertain if his dates are all that good, and also whether there had
been diffusion between some of the Eurasian and African sites.
--
John S. Wilkins, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Biohumanities Project
University of Queensland - Blog: scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts
"He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor,
bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."

.

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