As I sit here typing this people are being bombed the shit out of because some bellend believes they have the right to have the ultimate decision on who deserves to live and who deserves to die. How did we even get here? How did psychopaths get to control much of the world and why did the rest of society allow it? I think the answer is a long story dating back thousands of years. It may even have begun somewhere in the region that lies north of the Black and Caspian seas.
At some stage in human evolution a genetic anomaly emerged, a mutation if you like. Lactase is an enzyme that facilitates the digestion of milk, particularly the sugar lactose. The production of this enzyme tends to slow down or disappear after the weaning stage in most mammals, humans included. In some individuals lactase production continues into adulthood allowing for the digestion of dairy products throughout an individual’s lifetime. This is known as ‘lactase persistence’ (LP). At some point in human history there was a huge increase in LP individuals in Europe.
One of the theories about this increase is famine. A massive failure of food crops may have resulted in a massive decline in agrarian cultures and the more pastoral, dairy tolerant, cultures could have thrived. Dairy animals don’t just make milk, however, their meat is a major source of protein. This would bring the LP into conflict with the non-LP.
Desperation during these conflicts may have led to the rise of the psychopath, a wannabe tribal leader who had previously been shunned, to create a new style of society – a hierarchy.
Nice story bro… I’m currently researching this subject trawling through anthropology, economics, sociology and many other topics. The above is a more simplified, even comical, description of a hypothesis that I am researching. My posits are thus:
- Hierarchy is not inevitable
- Humans are naturally cooperative
- Altruism is inherent
- Psychopaths are a minority who have grasped control over everyone’s lives
For an insight into how psychopaths have shaped society around themselves I recommend Will Black’s book here.
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