From: avatar (avatar@renegadeclothing.com.au)
Date: Thu Jan 30 2003 - 21:47:12 MST
This is something that has been of interest to me for a while. Such traits
as dairy farming and alcohol absorption have been alleged to take about
10,000 years to be transmitted to the general population after a suitable
mutation arises.
General babble
It makes me think about mutation types: cosmic ray, genetic transfer faults.
I am not certain how many transfer "faults" may be a mechanism to accelerate
"possibilities" in localized areas of dna. I wonder about the mechanisms for
increased rates of change in terms of the lifespans of our ancestors. That
is, amongst multicellular organisms, mutations spread when somatic cells
with chromosones with that mutation split more frequently. Chromosones being
the stronger base, more than dna. It makes me think of the lifespans of the
organisms containing my particular chromosones radiating back in time. How
many generations? For humans, 15 years between generations of the
multicellular carrier, for my smaller mammalian ancestors (say 200 to 50
million years back) I'm not sure - if they're like rats, I guess a few
weeks. What's before then? Something like a lizardy salamander? The earliest
vertebrate. You are talking about 300 or 200 million years from the Cambrian
explosion to something like an animal on land with a backbone. Tens of
billions of generations for the lot? If a chromosone holds the equivalent of
40 megabytes or whatever of information, it is interesting to speculate on
rates of exposure to cosmic rays in the somatic cells, the chances of that
particular somatic cell (do they have stem cells as such in the male? ova I
think have a limited number) being "hit", size of potential damage. Over
types of causes of mutations, breakdown, substance exposure (some must be
possible in nature). Movement from lots of short generations to fewer longer
generations must start at some point between 50 and 15 million years before
now, but when, and how fast does this change occur? You can see that the
number of operations is not exceedingly vast, in certain areas at least.
Makes you think of the possibilities of simulations, artificial life games,
problem-solving mechanisms.
Towards Ascension
Avatar Polymorph
34 After Armstrong
In Celebration of the Techno-Rapture
www.paradigm4.com.au/way
Maximum choice and minimum non-consensual force
----- Original Message -----
From: "gts" <gts_2000@yahoo.com>
To: <longevity@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 1:04 PM
Subject: Earliest Evidence of Dairy Farming
> Those of you who know me well know that I am no fan of dairy products.
They
> are not part of our genetic heritage, having been introduced into the
human
> diet only very recently.
>
> We are not genetically adapted to the proteins and sugars in dairy
products.
> For that reason they are in my opinion a likely source of many modern
health
> problems.
>
> Here is news about the the earliest evidence of dairy, which dates back
only
> about 6 to 8 thousand years. This is barely a blink of an eye in
comparison
> to the multi-million year evolutionary history of homo sapiens.
>
> -gts
>
> ---
> Earliest Evidence of Dairy Farming Found
> Mon Jan 27, 5:01 PM
>
> WASHINGTON - Dairy farming became widespread in Britain as early as the
new
> stone age - around 4,000 B.C. - a team of researchers at England's
> University of Bristol reports.
>
> Mark Copley, an archaeological chemist, said evidence of milk fats was
found
> on broken pieces of pottery at several ancient sites in southern England.
>
> Using new methods of analysis, scientists have learned to differentiate
> between ancient residue from milk fat and other fats and oils in recent
> years, Copley and his team report in Proceedings of the National Academy
of
> Science.
>
> Their findings provide evidence of "the earliest farming communities in
> Britain, though obviously there were earlier ones in the Near East,"
Copley
> said.
>
> Animals were domesticated in the Near East about 8,000 B.C. Copley
> explained, and by the time farming practices reached England, dairying had
> become widely incorporated, using animals for both their meat and milk,
> Copley said.
>
> He said the team hopes to trace the spread of dairying from the Near East
> through Southeast Europe and the Balkans.
> While the chemical testing can detect milkfats, Copley said he didn't know
> exactly how the milk was being used.
>
> However, he added, "when you consider how soon milk goes off, it's most
> likely they were making butter, cheese or yogurt ... which actually keep a
> long time."
>
> By analyzing residue on pots and other artifacts from ancient communities,
> Copley said, archaeologists are "building up quite a big picture of how
> ancient economies actually worked."
>
>
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