Jon Louis Mann wrote: > >> I think it began much earlier, as soon as the >> hunter-gatherers >> learned that they could mass-murder their predators, and >> raised to the top of the food chain. > > both then, alberto, but when did the population of hunter gathers > reach the level when it had a serious impact on predator > populations? should we include using fire and other hunting tactics > to cause extinction among the wooly mammoths, giant moas, etc. the > native americans killed a lot of buffalo stampeding them over cliffs, > but it wasn't until bill cody that they were driven to the brink of > extinction. same with the whales, in the 19th century. jon > Ok, but, above, you only list the _preys_. Where are the big predators? There ain't no big predators in North America except Man. Even if the West didn't invade America (say, imagine that the Black Death had wiped out 99% of Afro-Eurasia), and even if the natives hadn't acquired gunpowder, how could the prey population survive Man?
Sooner or later, intelligent hunting would turn the prey population upside down, with an un-natural selection. Self-uplift is impossible Maru Alberto Monteiro _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
