Interestingly, it is often Indigenous folks themselves that do not recognize the huge diversity...inluding in the the history of the human populating of the Americas.
""Remember, the world's scientific scholars once believed the earth was flat....""
Actually, not at all. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Maya, the consensus amongst those with critical thinking abilities was that the world was a sphere. Even sailor's wive's watching their husband's ships appear, masts first, on the horizon knew this.
In fact, the Greeks calculated the diameter of the earth to with a few percentage points using geometry and precise measuring of triangles betwixt land and sea and mountain top etc.
It was the Christian church in the time after the Romans that decreed the earth as 'flat" (the four corners etc), not "science"!
Like most topics in science, there were some monks and priests who had the spare time and the education to dabble in facts...but the CHURCH itself was very much opposed to any contradictions of its collection of children's bible stories.
And so you can bury that tired old meme about "science" thinking the earth was flat. No, that was religion that insisted on THAT.
Halifax Regional Police chief Jean-Michel Blais gets a "D" in simple math if he thinks that "0.2% (blood alcohol)...is a lot for (a 95-pound person)".
In fact, being a percentage, it's the SAME concentration of alcohol for a 95 lb person, as it is for a 320 lb linebacker. Of course, the linebacker would have to drink 3-4 times MORE in order to achieve this concentration - so our chief gets it doubly wrong.
It's been in the news that Nova Scotians lag behind the nation in math skills. I did not think this applied to our police force.
...and Daniel, although you are of course correct that 200 years is not enough time for the ENTIRE human population to undergo significant (or ANY, really)genetic drift/evolution etc...it IS enough time for a small isolated group or population to do so. Witness many of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers that had red curly hair on Pitcairn island, for one example off the top off my head - there are many others. But like almost all evolution, they involve a sudden geographical isolation, and many generations - although less are necessary if the population is small. Not all traits that are selected for are advantageous in any physical way....and some is just "genetic drift"...In fact, a peacock's tail is metabolically expensive and a nuisance - like being a ginger, hahaha...
"""Mr Frosty A depletion of 200 years of natural selection is nowhere close to any period of time enough to effect the evolution of human genes. """
Why are you addressing this to ME??
When I say that man's use of "technology" has all but eliminated natural selection, I am not speaking of your iPhone, firearms or even Guttenburg's printing press, lol - By 'technology" I mean everything from the throwing stick and the bow and arrow, to the plow, to the fishhook first used tens of thousands of years ago, and so on... THOSE things are considered to be "technology" when discussing the ascent of man.
""Mr FRosty or Sonic Love is suggesting that depression and other mental illnesses and disorders which can lead to suicide is "Darwin's Law"?What about Cancer,Arthritis,Ms,ALS...?"" Wasn't me, things like "survival of the fittest" and "Darwin's law" are not part of my vocabulary! Sounds more like Herr Goebbels to me, lol! That sounds more like someone who is confusing "Darwinism" with SOCIAL Darwinism...too entirely different beasts...the former used by scientists, the latter by Hitler et al...
But I WILL point out that in earlier times, say, between our most recent exodus from Africa now thought to be about 70,000 years ago...between that and the advent of agriculture and the domestication of plants and animals, say, about 10-15,000 years ago... ...anyone born with a club foot, missing limb, etc would have been euthanized.
The fossil and acrcheological record backs this up.
What chance would a legless child have in a hunter-gatherer society after all? It's not cruelty - cruelty would be trying to prolong their lives only to the detriment of the tribe or group. Cancer, ALS and other unfortunate situations would likely have led to the same thing...although if the person was considered a wise old crone, or a tribal chief etc etc...perhaps some accomodation would be made. But as hunter-gatherers, we really DIDN'T have the choices we did, even 10,000 years ago when domestication of plants and animals allowed us to stay in one place - plus it allowed SOME people to find other things to specialize in besides searching for food: mystic/healer/storyteller/crone etc...
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Not EVERY nation can be the "first" nation.
Actually, not at all. From the ancient Phoenicians to the Maya, the consensus amongst those with critical thinking abilities was that the world was a sphere. Even sailor's wive's watching their husband's ships appear, masts first, on the horizon knew this.
In fact, the Greeks calculated the diameter of the earth to with a few percentage points using geometry and precise measuring of triangles betwixt land and sea and mountain top etc.
It was the Christian church in the time after the Romans that decreed the earth as 'flat" (the four corners etc), not "science"!
Like most topics in science, there were some monks and priests who had the spare time and the education to dabble in facts...but the CHURCH itself was very much opposed to any contradictions of its collection of children's bible stories.
And so you can bury that tired old meme about "science" thinking the earth was flat. No, that was religion that insisted on THAT.
You're welcome,
An historian (and sailor)
In fact, being a percentage, it's the SAME concentration of alcohol for a 95 lb person, as it is for a 320 lb linebacker. Of course, the linebacker would have to drink 3-4 times MORE in order to achieve this concentration - so our chief gets it doubly wrong.
It's been in the news that Nova Scotians lag behind the nation in math skills. I did not think this applied to our police force.
Why are you addressing this to ME??
When I say that man's use of "technology" has all but eliminated natural selection, I am not speaking of your iPhone, firearms or even Guttenburg's printing press, lol - By 'technology" I mean everything from the throwing stick and the bow and arrow, to the plow, to the fishhook first used tens of thousands of years ago, and so on... THOSE things are considered to be "technology" when discussing the ascent of man.
But I WILL point out that in earlier times, say, between our most recent exodus from Africa now thought to be about 70,000 years ago...between that and the advent of agriculture and the domestication of plants and animals, say, about 10-15,000 years ago... ...anyone born with a club foot, missing limb, etc would have been euthanized.
The fossil and acrcheological record backs this up.
What chance would a legless child have in a hunter-gatherer society after all? It's not cruelty - cruelty would be trying to prolong their lives only to the detriment of the tribe or group. Cancer, ALS and other unfortunate situations would likely have led to the same thing...although if the person was considered a wise old crone, or a tribal chief etc etc...perhaps some accomodation would be made. But as hunter-gatherers, we really DIDN'T have the choices we did, even 10,000 years ago when domestication of plants and animals allowed us to stay in one place - plus it allowed SOME people to find other things to specialize in besides searching for food: mystic/healer/storyteller/crone etc...
Before then...on the iceberg with you, sorry...