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Re: Modern Neanderthals?
Jonathan Adams ((no email))
10 Nov 1996 23:51:24 GMT
>>Subject: Re: Modern Neanderthals?
>>From: Jonathan Adams <jonathan>
>>Date: 5 Nov 1996 03:31:21 GMT
>>
>>er...sorry, but where exactly is the evidence for hybrid vigour amongst
>the
>>American population? Not in my local grocery store, anyway.
>>
> Without the advantage of seeing the message that occasioned the
>Q+A
>above I think I can give a satisfactory answer. The condition is not
>"hybrid vigour"
>which is a one generation condition ( mules ), but rather is a result of
>natural
>selection. I'm following the thought of an anthropologist I was reading at
>least
>fifty years ago now. From the very first days the people who came to the
>shores
>of this country were the adventurous, more dissatisfied, and more
>intelligent ones
>from Europe. Even the ones who were "transported" as convicts were
>probably,
>on the whole more vigerous and intelligent than average. The selection
>process
>continued as our population expanded to the west. The more vigerous and
>restless
>leaving the contented behind. Even after our nation had expanded to it's
>present
>limits we have had wave after wave of immigrants to furnish fresh blood.
>
> Nowhere in the world today will you find a total population that
>is more
>inventive, vigerous, hard working, and optimistic than in the U.S. of A.
>
>
> W F VAN HOUTEN
> Older. But wiser ?
>
>
>
I'm sorry, But this sounds like the sort of part-time Darwinism that many
people like to indulge in. It's all very entertaining but potentially quite
harmful in the long run. Are we talking now of hybrid vigour in North America
or selective migration of 'better' individuals to North America? Either way,
I'm sorry but I simply don't see any evidence for higher intelligence amongst
the general American population. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I heard
recently that PER HEAD of the population, several European countries each
exceed America in terms of the number of Nobel Prizes won.
Are we also talking about physical prowess? Again I hope you'll correct me
if I'm wrong, I believe that at the Atlanta Olympics France and Germany each
won far more golds PER HEAD of the population than America did. Despite all the
extra the money spent, the longevity of individuals in the USA is also only
very slightly higher than other developed countries, and the infant mortality
rate is slightly higher than in several. Not much evidence of genetic
superiority there, then.
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