08-12-2020, 04:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-12-2020, 05:10 PM by sixtynine seventy.)
There is a great deal of scholarship discussing stuff like this. Some of it: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C50&q=dysgenics+birth+control+urbanization&btnG=
Yes, much of Judaism has benefited from a selection effect; thereby increasing the genetic precursors for intelligence every generation. The downside of this are the unusual genetic defects suffered among the Ashkenazim. Why the need for a selection effect? Partly because of all the persecution and diaspora; rabbis and other leaders understood that their community would not survive otherwise. Maybe some of it is just incidental--Hebrew being difficult; Judaism having a culture of literacy.
Some Christians try to imitate Jews and become more exclusive; like elite Calvinists.
The difference between Jews and Gentiles has become especially pronounced due to the industrial revolution, urbanization, and sexual revolution. There is a rural brain drain where the more intelligent are more likely to move to cities--but in the cities they have lower fertility. Cities must constantly draw from smaller communities or immigrants from new countries that have not suffered so much from the negative selection effects, but this can only go on for so long before the next source of human raw material must be found to replace the old ones. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children; genetically and culturally as well. Civilization burns the candle at both ends. So it isn't just what Jews are doing; it is also that Gentiles are doing the opposite; sacrificing their communities, populations, and genetic inheritance in the name of progress, like Esau who despised his birthright.
Who will survive at the end of this? I imagine some groups like Hutterites and Amish will be left standing unless of course they are done in by genetic drift. They have chosen a separate path that is distinct from those who are elite and those who are very inclusive despite the ill-effects. By raising more children than will continue in their group, there is room for a positive selection effect to develop without shrinking into a very small, very elite sect like some Protestants. If they can fight the elitism Traditionalist Catholics stand to do well also; and without the inbreeding because they accept new followers at a higher rate. So it is correct to affirm that the meek inherit the earth. Meek being a different path than either elitism or ungrounded inclusive behavior that condones wrongdoing.
One earlier positive selection effect was that of Israel under slavery in Egypt and in the wilderness afterwards. Being an underclass that multiples rapidly with oppression from a meritocratic overclass prevents the corrupt from rising to the top. As such it prevents low-intelligent people rising to the top and propagating the leaders of the succeeding generations. It could have continued even longer and helped the Israel's genetic endowment even more had not Pharaoh tried to impose birth control-like measures on them. This would have ruined everything that Israel had gained; as such God needed to relocate them.
Why do some pursue the inclusive path? It is advantageous to the leadership. Mergers between religious groups and ties between countries especially develop within a low-fertility declining demographic situation. Without the One Child Policy, China could have split into dozens of smaller states, one for each ethnic group and language. Instead with low fertility the state was able to label most people as "Han" and reduce the infighting. Religious organizations that merge are often on an improved financial basis. In the US the "universal mandate" of contraception access occurred in the context of an attempt to tie the US down into stronger international commitments and a desire to enhance federal power at the expense of the states' power; lower fertility is supportive of these ends.
In contrast, Hutterites are constantly under pressure to split each commune to reduce competition for the relatively few leadership positions and top roles. If a commune doesn't split each generation, it becomes overpopulated and too many men end up in a "dead end job". Having a naturally expanding population is a lot of work. If the leadership fails you get infighting and a greater risk of schism and civil war. One group of Protestants in the US that have rapidly expanded and failed prevent schism and infighting are the Laedestantians, also called the Apostolic Lutherans. Had they contracepted, competition for leadership would have been much lower and maybe there would just be one denomination of them in the US today; although it would have been many times smaller than the combined population of all present Apostolic Lutheran denominations.
Also think of Moses; his job was never easy. Most political and religious leaders don't want to work as hard as Moses did.
Yes, much of Judaism has benefited from a selection effect; thereby increasing the genetic precursors for intelligence every generation. The downside of this are the unusual genetic defects suffered among the Ashkenazim. Why the need for a selection effect? Partly because of all the persecution and diaspora; rabbis and other leaders understood that their community would not survive otherwise. Maybe some of it is just incidental--Hebrew being difficult; Judaism having a culture of literacy.
Some Christians try to imitate Jews and become more exclusive; like elite Calvinists.
The difference between Jews and Gentiles has become especially pronounced due to the industrial revolution, urbanization, and sexual revolution. There is a rural brain drain where the more intelligent are more likely to move to cities--but in the cities they have lower fertility. Cities must constantly draw from smaller communities or immigrants from new countries that have not suffered so much from the negative selection effects, but this can only go on for so long before the next source of human raw material must be found to replace the old ones. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children; genetically and culturally as well. Civilization burns the candle at both ends. So it isn't just what Jews are doing; it is also that Gentiles are doing the opposite; sacrificing their communities, populations, and genetic inheritance in the name of progress, like Esau who despised his birthright.
Who will survive at the end of this? I imagine some groups like Hutterites and Amish will be left standing unless of course they are done in by genetic drift. They have chosen a separate path that is distinct from those who are elite and those who are very inclusive despite the ill-effects. By raising more children than will continue in their group, there is room for a positive selection effect to develop without shrinking into a very small, very elite sect like some Protestants. If they can fight the elitism Traditionalist Catholics stand to do well also; and without the inbreeding because they accept new followers at a higher rate. So it is correct to affirm that the meek inherit the earth. Meek being a different path than either elitism or ungrounded inclusive behavior that condones wrongdoing.
One earlier positive selection effect was that of Israel under slavery in Egypt and in the wilderness afterwards. Being an underclass that multiples rapidly with oppression from a meritocratic overclass prevents the corrupt from rising to the top. As such it prevents low-intelligent people rising to the top and propagating the leaders of the succeeding generations. It could have continued even longer and helped the Israel's genetic endowment even more had not Pharaoh tried to impose birth control-like measures on them. This would have ruined everything that Israel had gained; as such God needed to relocate them.
Why do some pursue the inclusive path? It is advantageous to the leadership. Mergers between religious groups and ties between countries especially develop within a low-fertility declining demographic situation. Without the One Child Policy, China could have split into dozens of smaller states, one for each ethnic group and language. Instead with low fertility the state was able to label most people as "Han" and reduce the infighting. Religious organizations that merge are often on an improved financial basis. In the US the "universal mandate" of contraception access occurred in the context of an attempt to tie the US down into stronger international commitments and a desire to enhance federal power at the expense of the states' power; lower fertility is supportive of these ends.
In contrast, Hutterites are constantly under pressure to split each commune to reduce competition for the relatively few leadership positions and top roles. If a commune doesn't split each generation, it becomes overpopulated and too many men end up in a "dead end job". Having a naturally expanding population is a lot of work. If the leadership fails you get infighting and a greater risk of schism and civil war. One group of Protestants in the US that have rapidly expanded and failed prevent schism and infighting are the Laedestantians, also called the Apostolic Lutherans. Had they contracepted, competition for leadership would have been much lower and maybe there would just be one denomination of them in the US today; although it would have been many times smaller than the combined population of all present Apostolic Lutheran denominations.
Also think of Moses; his job was never easy. Most political and religious leaders don't want to work as hard as Moses did.