this one goes out to all the STEM lord redditors

  • CrimsonSage [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    ROFL! I can guaranfuckingtee you that as a highly selection sensitive pathway metabolism would show rapid evolution within only a few generations. Honestly we probably have seen significant dietary evolution since the development of CAPITALISM, let alone civilization itself. And this doesn't even get into the fact that most biological pathways are very flexible and adaptive outside of an evolutionary context, especially when it comes to omnivores like humans. Like evolution of things that are not heavily selected for by evolution, for example body hair in humans, takes a long time to change in the gene pool, and usually then just by random drift, but if something is a life or death thing you better believe that you will see changes in a few generations.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      But that's the thing. Wanting to overeat is life threatening, but not necessarily reproduction threatening. Tons of people manage to have kids even while saddling themselves for life with dangerous cholesterol, which is why our taste preferences post capitalism haven't shifted to account for the excessive availability of sugar and carbs.

      • CrimsonSage [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Wanting to overeat is life threatening, but not necessarily reproduction threatening.

        I mean I would very much disagree. For any given person it may not be re productively significant, but for a population it very much is. Also these conditions only apply to westerners, plenty of people dont have these dietary problems they have other exciting ones like recurring famine. There is also the issue that much of the new research is showing that obesity is not necessarily the sole outcome of poor diet, it is a much more complicated phenomenon.

        In any event it is yet to be seen what specific evolutionary changes will result from capitalism specifically. More important for the question of availability of refined simple sugars is the development of agriculture and bread consumption. Once you enter a world where up to 70% of your populations diet is processed grains you are entering a new world compared to hunting and gathering. This also doesnt consider the development of food technologies like fruits and vegetables as well, you would never have hunter gatherers munching on the kind of apples agricultural societies were producing 2000 years ago. Basically what I am saying is that these pathways are super sensitive and you will definitely see rapid changes only accelerated by repeated population fluctuations which we have seen throughout human history.