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Psychohistorian comments on Why Don’t We Apply What We Know About Twins to Everybody Else? - Less Wrong
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Comments (26)
Think it would be more accurate to say
The idea that body type is basically determined by genetics simply doesn't work, because current body types diverge rather dramatically from body types of a hundred or even fifty years ago. Genes don't change that fast.
It's more likely that people are responding to culture and incentives that are largely beyond their control. Culture and incentives can change dramatically in the necessary time frame. This doesn't mean that people can't make the right decisions, so much as it suggests the right decisions may be hard to figure out. Choosing to associate with people who will look down on you for super-sizing your bacon double cheeseburger may do a lot more than deciding to get a diet coke with it, but good luck selling a diet book centered on that idea.
Dramatically? I have to disagree with that. I wasn't around 100 years ago but I've seen pictures and they didn't look much different than us, really at all. From the medical texts I am familiar with, our insides work pretty much the same as well.
I agree with Michael below that nutrition has made differences in how, say bodybuilders change their bodies, but the average person from what I can tell is about the same in type - if perhaps marginally taller on average.
The post is clearly referring to obesity and physical fitness. Average bodyweight, BMI, and obesity rates have risen rather dramatically since 1900.
You're completely ignoring the context of the statement. With specific respect to fatness, demographics have changed very dramatically very fast, which suggests a non-genetic cause. Average number of lungs had not changed all that much, which suggests a genetic cause, but no one even pretended to challenge that.
A change in available nutrition in the past few hundred years is probably the biggest factor to explain this.