Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Reasons for the Industrial Revolution

The leftist hate site SPLC complains about an anthropologist studying human biodiversity and evolution:
Henry Harpending: “The reason the Industrial Revolution happened in 1800, rather than the year one thousand, or zero, which it could have, the Romans certainly could have done it, is that a new kind of human evolved in northern Europe, and probably northern Asia. And that this led to the Industrial Revolution — this new kind of human was less violent, had an affinity for work. When you view your parents or grandparents, and you know that they’re retired, they could relax. But afterwards they can’t just sit on the couch and relax, they’ve got to go and get a shop and work on a cradle for their grandchildren… I’ve never seen anything like that in an African. I’ve never seen anyone with a hobby in Africa. They’re different.”
— “Preserving Western Civilization” conference, 2009

I must admit, it does seem outrageous to claim that Africans do not have hobbies or work for their grandkids. But is there some refutation of what he says? No, they just use name-calling to try to intimidate him into silence.

Sometimes I think these leftist sites exist for the purpose of creating racial animosity. The anthropologist is just trying to describe the world as it is. The leftists have no interest in the facts, and just try to inflame people.

2 comments:

TheThotsOfficial said...

Perhaps the skills valued in many other civilizations are not necessarily the skills needed in this society. In another culture, the ability to do math may not be valued, as it is not necessary. In another culture, perhaps performing arts like story telling, singing, and dancing are valued more. This discrepancy may also explain why certain racial groups are better at certain sports or entertainment medium. The number of good rappers are predominantly black. Does this mean whites are inferior?

I believe that all humans are born with a certain capacity to learn. Evolution favors certain skills most useful in different cultures. When globalization happens and all humans are forced to be judged by the same skill sets, other skills that multifarious cultures have been developing for thousands of years become passed over.

Roger said...

Some groups do seem better, and some worse, at certain tasks. I am not sure about rappers, as some famous rappers use material written by others. Also rappers are marketed differently, and judged on popularity rather than any objective standard.