[ExI] 'capitalism' genes was breeding cats

[BillK]

On 6/8/10, Keith Henson wrote:
>  But it's not exactly true that I think the UK population evolved
>  'capitalism' genes in the 1800.  Rather, I have been impressed by both
>  the work and the conclusions Dr. Gregory Clark on with his analysis of
>  the run up to the industrial revolution.  If you have not read his
>  book or the 50 page paper on this, you should.
>
>  I am not in the business of looking for them, but it wouldn't be hard
>  to find them.  Tame foxes differ in gene expression in only about 40
>  genes.
>
>  From the mid 1200s to 1800 is about 20 human generations.  The UK has
>  probate records for this period and that is what Dr. Clark used to see
>  if there was a correlation between the number of surviving children
>  and the size of the estate.  He found it.  The same "more surviving
>  kids for the well off" is probably true for most stable agrarian
>  societies.  It is not true for all societies.
>
>  Clark made the reasonable assumption that some behavior genes would be
>  conducive to accumulating wealth.  These are a different set of genes
>  than are likely to be successful in hunter gatherer or waring tribal
>  societies.
>
>  Because the society was both Malthusian and Darwinian, the genes for
>  behaviors (personality characteristics) that were conducive to
>  accumulating wealth became more common over this long time period.
>  There are independent measures of some of these such as the historical
>  fall in interest rates.
>
>  There are vast piles of human bones in the UK from thousands of years
>  ago.  So if someone wanted to look at the changing mix of genes like
>  they looked at the foxes, the information is there.
>
>

In my opinion Clark's connection with genes is not a reasonable assumption.
It is more like a 'Just so' story.  Neat, but where's the evidence?

The argument between nature and nurture is ongoing. With the plagues
and the wars and the Renaissance and the Reformation, etc. there was
an awful lot of stuff going on over those centuries.

I would like to see evidence of human gene expression forming
political opinions or behaviour tendencies.  I doubt it exists.  If it
does, then the door opens for gene therapy to 'cure' people of bad
opinions and behaviours.  I have my list ready!   ;)


BillK