Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
mitvit · 3605 days ago · link · · parent · post: Rice Theory: Why Eastern Cultures Are More Cooperative : The Salt : NPR
This is an interesting hypothesis but there are plenty of non-agricultural variables that have a stake here. Rice was known in ancient Greece and Rome and wheat was in China some 4000 years ago. I know the prevalence of each is different in different locales, and these are short periods on the scale of genetic evolution. However, they are not so short in terms of culture. If I had a few thousand years to spare I'd switch which crop each group grows and watch how (if) their cultures were affected.