Apples and Bananas,
Interesting conclusions with not much information. It still presumes a patronizing advantage for playing with toys rather than working with the environment. There are plenty of stories amongst almost all native peoples here about ancient migrations to the four, not two, directions before a culture could center itself. The Pueblos have materials from the Arctic to South America amongst their sacred relics and the Pochtecas (merchant guilds) of the Aztecs certainly journeyed to the Arctic where they traded and to the Southern Empires of Peru and the Amazon. As for urban technology, the city of the clouds in Columbia is still a running machine that was built and abandoned when the Europeans invaded and it had no defensive structures. The physical systems of the city still work for the bringing of and release of water and the release of sewage. As Peru cleans out Machu Picchu they are finding amazing urban technology as well as advanced agricultural technologies that the Europeans and Asians could not match but claimed superiority in preparation of the foods the stole from the Incas as they destroyed their history and restarted the culture in the Christian redemptive mold. I'm reminded of the "restart" button so beloved by advertisers here. You find that same art about centering in Europe in places like Cathedral floors and municipal buildings but the resultant centering processes are missing accept in the technology of the compass. The technology was not Europe to China but the reverse from the silk road free trade of Genghis to the boats that the Europeans used for their efforts. Europe thanked them by enslaving China and claiming credit for either outright theft or making something "useful" like gunpowder for arms and dynamite instead of festive firecrackers for cultural events.. Modern Free Trade was first developed in the shamanic empire of Genghis. That rush to claim what you did not accomplish proceeded to the Americas where immigrants promptly claimed all of the technology developed in Europe as invented here. Like father like son. Maybe THAT is what proceeds along the East to West orientation. (snarky smile) REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:23 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION; Harry Pollard Subject: [Futurework] The Darwin Economy Apropos the recent discussion about human adaptability between Harry and me, the following piece will be of interest. (Be it noted, however, that the Science Daily writer confuses his latitudes with his longitudes in the 6th paragraph, though he was correct in his fifth para.) Keith Did the Orientation of the Continents Hinder Ancient Settlement of the Americas? ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2011) -- In an intriguing original look at the history of the first Americans, a new study finds evidence that the north-south orientation of the American continents slowed the spread of populations and technology, compared to the east-west axis of Eurasia. The research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, is part of a special section which explores who the first Americans were and how they were able to settle in the last great unexplored habitat. The research, by Sohini Ramachandran and Noah Rosenberg, from Brown University and Stanford University respectively, uses genetic information to explore the effects of continental axes and climates on human migration and adaptation across the Americas. "It has been proposed that the east-west orientation of the Eurasian landmass aided the rapid spread of ancient technological innovations, while the north-south orientation of the Americas led to a slower diffusion of technology there," said Ramachandran. "Our research develops this idea, arguing that continental orientation influenced migration patterns and played an important role in determining the structure of human genetic variation and the distribution and spread of cultural traits." The research supports the idea that technological diffusion was accelerated across Eurasia because populations with the same latitude experience similar climates, making adaptation to new locations easier for domesticated animals, plants and consequently humans. Alternatively, migrating along lines of longitude involves adapting to new climates. "The idea that technology was diffused along latitudinal lines was proposed by Jared Diamond in 1997, but if this is correct and the spread of technology was accompanied by human migrations it follows that a comparative study into genetic variation would reveal a signature of greater genetic differences between populations along lines of longitude in the Americas than that in Eurasia along lines of latitude," said Ramachandran. To test this hypothesis the team analysed genetic variation data from 68 populations, 39 from Eurasia and 29 from Native Americans. The data were used to identify relationships between the genetic and geographic distances between populations on each continent. The results confirmed that the increase in genetic distances along lines of longitude in the Americas occurs over shorter geographic distances than the increase in genetic distances in Eurasia along lines of latitude. "For many years anthropologists have asked who the first Americans were and how they were able to settle in the last major habitat open to humans," said Jeff Long, guest editor of the special section. "These six papers use genetics to answer these questions, not only confirming the genetic signatures of historic relationships between Native Americans and Eastern Asia, but also providing evidence for prehistoric migration and adaptation of settlers to the new world." _____ Story Source: The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/> , via AlphaGalileo <http://www.alphagalileo.org> . _____ Journal Reference: 1. Sohini Ramachandran, Noah A. Rosenberg. A test of the influence of continental axes of orientation on patterns of human gene flow. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2011; DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21533 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21533> Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2012/08/
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