Diamond
February 3rd, 2005, 08:22 PM
Here's a really bizarre thread from the old board, originally posted by someone named 'GodofWI' who I have a sneaking suspicion is my brother:
If I understand evolution (which I think I do), populations that exhibit higher degrees of lactose intolerance have a shorter history of domesticating animals. Since these people have not consumed milk for as many generations they have not been selecting for the enzyme that digests lactose for as long as populations that have had domestication longer.
My educated what if is as follows: South and central Africans began domesticating animals sooner and Europeans remained hunter gatherers longer. The result is that Euro populations have a much higher incidence of lactose intolerance than do Africans. The Europeans would not have been able to conquer so much of the world if they had been plagued with the runs. It is an African power that would have explored and colonized, and had an iron grip on the dairy trade.
This would have resulted in a Libertarian takeover of America because they would not have stood for the mammoth government subsidies it would have taken to offset the dent the cereal industry would have sustained due to Americans not being able to digest milk with wheaties, fruit loops, etc.
Finally, the African Milk Dominion would have sought to expand their dairy influence into North America. Yes, you guessed it: Libertarians would have fought to keep the homeland free of cheese...and so the African Milk War begins.
If I understand evolution (which I think I do), populations that exhibit higher degrees of lactose intolerance have a shorter history of domesticating animals. Since these people have not consumed milk for as many generations they have not been selecting for the enzyme that digests lactose for as long as populations that have had domestication longer.
My educated what if is as follows: South and central Africans began domesticating animals sooner and Europeans remained hunter gatherers longer. The result is that Euro populations have a much higher incidence of lactose intolerance than do Africans. The Europeans would not have been able to conquer so much of the world if they had been plagued with the runs. It is an African power that would have explored and colonized, and had an iron grip on the dairy trade.
This would have resulted in a Libertarian takeover of America because they would not have stood for the mammoth government subsidies it would have taken to offset the dent the cereal industry would have sustained due to Americans not being able to digest milk with wheaties, fruit loops, etc.
Finally, the African Milk Dominion would have sought to expand their dairy influence into North America. Yes, you guessed it: Libertarians would have fought to keep the homeland free of cheese...and so the African Milk War begins.