Posted on 04/24/2016 9:05:52 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
A few years ago, two economics professors, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, published a paper, “The Out of Africa Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development,” that drew inferences about poverty and genetics based on a statistical pattern.
The world’s most genetically diverse countries (using their measure of what counts as genetically diverse) are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the world’s poorest region. The least genetically diverse countries are in places like Bolivia, which have low incomes but not as low as in that region of Africa. There’s an intermediate level of genetic diversity among the residents of the middle-income and rich countries in Asia, Europe and North America.
Genetic diversity arises from migratory distance of populations from East Africa. Countries in east Africa have the highest genetic diversity because this is where humans evolved. Populations that settled in other parts of the world descend from various subgroups of people who left Africa at different times. Thus, these groups are less varied in their genetic profiles.
Ashraf and Galor put this together and argued that this is “reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity.” Their argument was that a little bit of genetic diversity is a good thing because “a wider spectrum of traits is more likely to be complementary to the development and successful implementation of advanced technological paradigms,” but if a country is too genetically diverse, its economy will suffer from “reduced cooperation and efficiency.” Thus, they wrote, “the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of those regions.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The version I heard goes like this:
Black African complaining to White European "Why do you run the businesses here?"
European says "Let me show you that we're smarter. Here, see my hand? Hit it as hard as you can!", as the European places his hand on a tree trunk.
African goes to punch it as hard as he can, and the European pulls his hand away at the last second and the African smashes his fist into the tree and yells out in pain. Says "Okay, I understand."
Later, a second African asks the first African what happened to his messed up hand? First one says European was explaining why they're smarter. Second asks him to explain.
So the first African puts his hand over his face and says "Here, see my hand? Hit it as hard as you can!"
No offense to Jamaicans, but anyone who picks fruit off a tree and doesn’t do anything else is really not much more than a monkey. LOL.
>I also wonder how much of Africa even has written languages. A civilization without a written language is basically aboriginal, no matter how much that important fact is masked by the modern amenities that were brought by colonial powers.
Written language is a later development than civilization and most civilizations adopted writing from other near by civilizations that developed it first. The hall mark of an uncivilized people is the lack of cities with Stone or Brick buildings. Africa reached larger mud hut type buildings(not brick) before Europeans showed up.
Well, if the climate is warm and mild, and there is food in relative abundance without having to labor for it, then to many if not most there appears to be no pressing need to do what others in less forgiving climates have to do just to survive.
Well said.
Amazing how the genetic diversity in Venezuela changed (apparently) in less than one generation.
I think Israel is at the top of the charts? No?
But they’ve had enough generations of consanguinity due to Islamic mores that they’re not particularly well off any more.
What a ridiculous premise. The reason why some countries are more prosperous is called Social and cultural evolution. A society that undergoes this process learns lessons, skills, values and attributes that help it create a healthy, prosperous and modern society.
Most times we simply call out the number, and everybody laughs, except if someone doesn't know how to call out the number.
:-)
Lots of muslims live there...
Perceptive observation. It took the acceptance of Christianity to transform European tribal culture.
Africa actually degenerated with the spread of Islam.
It was warm in Carthage and Babylonia and Syracuse and much of Persia
I agree on the surface it looks better
Yes we really do need to express the obvious
It would be a huge step
Some groups are smarter and more logical on average than others
And some of the defining characteristics are racial
They are not less smart on average due to their skin color
Nor are there not exceptions that exceed the mean of tropical Africans and all other racially defined groups and sub groups and hybrids
And at the bottom is geographic and culture influenced evolution
Blacks are on average lagging everywhere they exist
Amerindians same thing
Arabs too....largely ...distinct racial sub group....also stunted by a raider religion
You can easily look within any racial group and find who excels and who doesn’t and it does carry forth genetically as does lack of intelligence
I see it all around me even in my own kids
Years ago I saw a cartoon that showed a black guy standing in front of a barb-wire fence that had a sign labeled “Apartheid” - he had just tunneled out of that compound.
Ahead of him was a much higher wall of solid stone with the sign “Tribalism”.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Diversity is not what’s important. What’s important is the average IQ of the population in question, and whether they have a culture which stresses honesty and fair dealing.
To even examine this subject is inherently racist.
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Because African tyrants’ greed suck the incentive out of any economic enterprise. Like what’s happening here.
If it's genetics, why do Americans from the West Indies (Africans) do better economically than whites?
Why were literacy rates higher for blacks than whites in America 100+ years ago?
In the days of segregation, some of the highest achieving high schools in the country were poor, black, inner-city schools.
A lot of people around here who think they're conservative actually have the same view of liberty as Bernie Sanders. Africa has been plagued by socialist despotism since the colonial powers left. That is gradually changing. There is no reason why they can't do what Hong Kong did.
That's an assumption that correlates to the statistical evidence, but cannot be linked causally. In fact, genetically homogenous cultures like Japan belie that thesis.
It is just as likely that Europe, being largely settled by Judeo-Christian peoples, have adopted that religious framework's philosophy of hard work, honorable behavior, and familial responsibility. Whereas the animistic religions of Africa impose fewer restraints on behavior. It is a certainty that islime discourages innovation and creativity, two efforts largely responsible for the increased productivity -- and profitability -- of European civilizations.
Then there are geographic and weather considerations. Where lush tropical growth occurs unabated, and the weather is balmy all year round, you are less inclined to anticipate cyclical shortages of food and forage. In harsher climates, one must work hard during the productive seasons to lay up supplies that will carry you through the winter months.
Or, an un-PC as it might be, maybe there are differences in intelligence among the prevalent races in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
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