Elites face selection pressures similar to groups at the front of a migration wave - available resources reward earlier reproduction.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
A complex society develops an elite whose offspring have very high rates of survival - like being in a constant state of range expansion.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
Most descendants of elites end up outside the elite, without any extra resources - they have to go back to slow life histories.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
But gene flow is one way - effective elite isolation. Genes to deal with the harmful effects of extra food and fast life history can appear.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
And even though they're irrelevant to most peasants, they could sneak into the general population by "surfing" the permanent expansion wave.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
Descendants of elites and populations that had hyperfertile elites may be better adapted to deal with sudden food excess.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
Whereas descendants of simple societies never had any source of get-rich-and-r-selected-safely genes.
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Replying to @sarahdoingthing
@sarahdoingthing interesting ideas. It's not just about genes though.1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @FR_Newbrough
@FR_Newbrough yeah it makes no sense apart from culture5 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @sarahdoingthing
@sarahdoingthing though the current culture that delays marriage and extends adolescence may exacerbate this phenomenon.1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
@FR_Newbrough the thing that started me on this was finding out 1600s french women had their first kid on average at 26
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