Dogs Decoded: Nova

Looking at the evolution of the relationship of dogs with humans (aka the domestication of dogs). Notable facts: Dogs are evolved directly from wolves, not african wild dogs or coyotes or any other canine species. They were partnered with humans thousands of years earlier than we first believed -- humans were certainly hunter-gatherers at the time, but the presence of "working" dogs probably helped societies to transition to herding and farming.

Humans and wolves shared the characteristics of being carnivores who hunted in daylight (not that common), which offered the potential to become natural allies. After humans ate, there would be bones and carcasses for the wolves to scavenge, drawing the wolves into proximity with humans. A few generations of selective breeding for non-aggressive traits would be enough to yield an animal domesticated enough to be a hunting partner.

Breeding experiments in Russia over the past 50 years (designed to domesticate Silver Foxes) have proven the ability to domesticate from wild wolf into helper dogs would have taken far less time than we first thought. And over the thousands of years since initial domestication, those non-aggressive wolves have evolved into 400 kinds of dogs, as humans started selecting among the non-aggressive offspring for what had been inadvertent traits such as curly tails, floppy ears, shorter legs, etc. They could similarly select for various kinds of intelligence (ability to herd cattle, follow scents, bark intruder warnings, etc). Because humans were able to domesticate, select and train dogs over the course of centuries if not millennia before climate conditions were ripe for agriculture to take hold, dogs probably played a substantial role in transitioning human society from hunter-gatherers to herders and farmers.

The importance of the domesticated dog in helping humans to control flocks and herds as a means of creating the shift in societal structures ties in well with the ideas examined in the previous post on: Guns, Germs and Steel. That pushes the theory that geographic location was the determining factor behind which societies developed herding and farming. Geography determined the available grains and growing conditions as well as which animals were accessible to domesticate as livestock. As it turns out, these same groups of people living at the latitude and environment of pre-ancient mesopotamia also were in proximity to wolves and able to reap the benefits of the domesticated offspring.

Animal temperament is a biological product of the domestication process (selective breeding), which is why wild animals are still wild even if raised in captivity under loving conditions. However, most wolves in the juvenile "pup" stage (up to 8 weeks or a few months), exhibit non-aggressive tendencies. Breeding dogs from wolves meant selecting for non-aggressive traits over generations, essentially creating an animal in a permanent juvenile state. Other than non-aggression, the primary quality of the juvenile state: cuteness!

And the human brain responds to cuteness in animals the same way it responds to cuteness in human offspring: baby faces inspire the the urge to protect and care and coddle. So on some level, yes, puppies are replacing babies in the homes and hearts of people. After all, dogs retain their juvenile qualities and don't lose their dependence on their human parents as human offspring do. And while most people today may not use their dogs as helpers in their hunting or herding, dogs remain nevertheless an important part of human societies given that the emotional response they illicit in their owners has the tendency to make their humans happier and healthier.

National Geographic Documentary: Guns, Germs and Steel

Basic information about the book: Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Clicking on the above link and reading it might qualify for some as active research, so for those who are intent on sticking more closely to the principle of passive research, allow me to summarize what I discerned from watching the documentary (not I have not read the book, nor have I closely read the wikipedia page):

So basically the idea is geography was the deciding factor on who would be the haves and have-nots in the world. Geography (location, climate, chance and time) ultimately determined which groups of people would be able to grow and sustain human populations large enough to create diversified and specialized economies.

It seems obvious enough, right? Well just in case it doesn't seem obvious enough, here are the mechanics that they go about proving largely by looking at  series of small walls:

This was first achieved by agrarian societies around the ancient fertile crescent in mesopotamia where the grass-grains wheat and barely were first able to be harvest, stored and eventually cultivated-- a haphazard product that resulted in a paradigm shift for the development of Western civilization. Steady crops led to enough grain surpluses to feed and domesticate livestock, which in turn, were used to fertilize and help plow crops. Readily accessible meat (and dairy) resulted in healthier and larger populations. 

This phenomenon was reproducible over time by people anywhere within the same latitude, where growing conditions would be similar, and because of the land mass that branched out both East and West from the initial location, these crops, animals and practices spread and civilizations boomed on the Eurasian continent over the course of millennia. 

One initial drawback with the domestication of animals was the spread of animal diseases to humans through a series of genetic mutations of viruses transmitted through various species. That's what you get for sleeping among the pigs.... However, natural selection at work, the humans who survived initial illness over generations had stronger immunity or at least some resistance to the same diseases. This later worked in their favor when encountering/conquering "New World" civilizations. The civilizations that had developed in the new world had no immunity to these diseases because they had no domesticated animals in closed quarters through which to experience them. So the initial exposure to the pathogens swept through the large populations and millions of indigenous peoples in the Americas were wiped out by the spread before they ever saw the handful of foreigners who carried it to the continents. 

In the end, geography determined the spread of agriculture. Agriculture enabled populations to grow based on location, inadvertently giving them genetic fortification while it also allowed those populations to diversify and specialize in the development of economic goods, particularly tools and weaponry. At some point, these agrarian societies ended up with such a surplus they began to operate out of greed, not need. 

The course of human history being what it was, Western Europeans prospered most because they were in the right place at the right time. They inherited technologies early on (agriculture, animal domestication and metallurgy) which enabled them to develop and hone skills over the course of centuries in light of their ever growing, ever diversifying and specializing human populations. Then they set out to conquer, colonize and modernize -- a process that is still ongoing, and we who read this blog reap the benefits of the havoc wreaked on decimated if not extinct populations of less geographically fortunate people.

Analysis: Overall, a rather compelling explanation of "how things came to be" without the "Old World" mindset of superior and inferior beings. Complaints against the theory are that it is too simple, but that doesn't make it any less true, especially as a new framework in which to re-examine history and explain the world's contemporary disparity between developed and post-colonial regions. 

Food for Thought.

This blog is an exercise in thought digestion. I passively consume information (watch tv/movies, surf/browse the interwebs, listen to NPR on occassion, etc.) and this blog is how I intend to process some of it. Bringing the research to you! As you have probably surmised for yourself, the end product will undoubtedly be... well, what usually happens after you digest food?