Re: [Marxism] The transition to capitalism: is it in our genes?

[Einde O'Callaghan <einde@xxxxxx>]

D.Q. Williams schrieb:
> On 8/7/07, Sayan Bhattacharyya <ok.president+marxmail@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>>On 8/7/07, Auguste Blanqui <blanquist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
>>>And he
>>>doesn't even get evolutionary theory right -- he's talking about a
>>>dramatic change over the span of about a century!!!
>>
>>That could be enough time. See:
>>
>>"The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years
> 
> 
> I'm not an expert in biology or genetics by any means. But there does
> seem to be reports of pretty fast phenotypic change as a result of
> evolution within a short span of time:
> 
> Time changes modern human's face
> By Rebecca Morelle
> BBC News science reporter
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4643312.stm
> 
> "Researchers have found that the shape of the human skull has changed
> significantly over the past 650 years.
> 
> Modern people possess less prominent features but higher foreheads
> than our medieval ancestors.
> 
> Dr Peter Rock, lead author of the study and director of orthodontistry
> at Birmingham University, told the BBC News website: "The astonishing
> finding is the increased cranial vault heights.
> 
> "The increase is very considerable. For example, the vault height of
> the plague skulls were 80mm, and the modern ones were 95mm - that's in
> the order of 20% bigger, which is really rather a lot."
> 
> He suggests that the increase in size may be due to an increase in
> mental capacity over the ages."
> 
It is also a fact that modern Europeans are considerably taller and 
larger than their ancestors before the Black Death (possibly even in the 
order of 20%, i.e. approx 1 ft.). This however has very little to do 
with evolution and a lot to do with diet. And, as I understand it, 
larger bodies require proportionately larger brains.

A similar trend has been observed over the past 50 years in Japan - very 
fast indeed for evolutionary change in humans!

Einde O'Callaghan

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism