The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution

The normal story we are told is that as rose civilization, so declined evolution. The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution, inverts that formula as indicated by the title. The idea that humans are beyond evolution isn't limited just to non-scientists, Steve Jones, an evolutionary geneticist, made the same argument last year. I've pointed why the emergence of modern culture and all its accoutrements, such as effective medicine, does not mean that the power of evolutionary forces are somehow negated. In The 10,000 Year ExplosionGreg Cochran and Henry Harpending suggest that the rise of complex societies, and in particular agriculture, increased the tempo of evolution! Contrary to the idea that humanity is the post-evolutionary animal, Cochran & Harpending sketch out compelling reasons why one can not separate our biological heritage from our cultural development (and vice versa). Not only are there theoretical reasons why evolution should not stop, ...