Kaj_Sotala comments on Fundamentally Flawed, or Fast and Frugal? - Less Wrong
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As societies, perhaps. As individuals, probably not. I find it a bit odd that you mention a decreased risk of starvation at the same time as this item; needing to look forward a year or preferably several to make sure you didn't run out of food during the winter (or the winter after that) has been a major factor in the past. Even if you lived in a warm country, it seems like there would have been more long-term dangers than there are now, when we have a variety of safety networks and a much safer society.
Existential risks excluded, I'm not sure if this is true.
Hunter-gatherers, possibly not, but we've had agriculture around for 10,000 years. That has been enough time for other selection effects (for instance, the persistent domestication of cattle, and the associated dairying activities, did alter the selective environments of some human populations for sufficient generations to select for genes that today confer greater adult lactose tolerance), so I'd be cautious about putting too much weight on the hunter-gatherer environment.
Why be needlessly inflammatory?
Cultural differences are hard to factor out, too.
It provides an test for the theory?
Granted.