The 10,000 year explosion

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1. limbicsystemJun 2026
   I used to think that as well. This book recently made me think again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_10,000_Year_Explosion
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2. danieltillettJan 2018
   Genetically there has been more evolution in the last 10,000 years (most of this in the last 5000 years) than in the preceding 500,000. This is tied to the change in environment (hunter-gather to agriculture) and the expansion in the population size.

   An accessible book on this topic is the 10,000 Year Explosion [0]. It is a little dated (it is before all the amazing data that has come from sequencing ancient homo DNA), but what it does have is a very good overview of the topic.

   0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_10,000_Year_Explosion

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3. beefmanSep 2017
   – Economics / sociology –

   A Farewell to Alms https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691141282/

   Cartesian Economics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616407395/

   The 10,000 Year Explosion https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465020429/

   The Righteous Mind https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777/

   Mindstorms https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465046746/

   – Philosophy –

   Tao Te Ching https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060812451/

   Meditations https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545565678/

   – Autobiography –

   Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/

   Recollections of Eugene Wigner https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738208868/

   – Fiction –

   Fahrenheit 451 https://www.amazon.com/dp/030747531X/

   Dune https://www.amazon.com/dp/0441172717/

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4. qrendelAug 2015
   I read Sapiens after seeing the same edge.org conversation, and while it was mostly good, I think it started off strong and then became less so as it went on. Especially towards the end it became almost a hot list of current events the author had read about in the newspaper, like browsing through a lot of TED talks, without a lot of coherence to a larger picture. My other complaint would be that some portions seemed less scholarly and heavily influenced by the author's opinions and personal worldview. Not a bad book by any means but somewhat less than the "history of humankind" I had hoped for. The first quarter focusing on prehistory through agriculture was very informative, though leaves me questioning if I'm just suffering from Gell-Mann amnesia. Rated it 4/5 on Goodreads when I was finished.

   I found Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond to be perhaps a better book of similar nature overall, and would add in The 10,000 Year Explosion by Cochran and Harpending as another good one for those who liked Sapiens.

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5. Chen77Nov 2013
   Who is they?

   What I find amazing is that people are surprised that group differences have arisen over the last 50,000 years. Gene-culture coevolution makes it seem inevitable that different cultures will favor different traits. Therefore you're going to see some average differences.

   There are obvious examples, a more polygamous society where women do more of the work (eg female farming systems) with lower paternal investment, might favor different traits to those where there is State control, monogamy and greater paternal investment.

   I'd recommend that you read some posts by Steve Hsu, Peter Frost, or 'The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution'.

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6. barry-cotterNov 2009
   Don't. Read the 10,000 Year Explosion instead[1]. Criticism of Diamond [2].

   [1]http://the10000yearexplosion.com/ [2]http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/08/03/ggs

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