In this chapter, Lieberman debates the merits of living like a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer.\u00a0 He explains that currently, there are unprecedented numbers of people able to live long and healthy lives, which is an improvement from even the last 100 years.\u00a0 Conversely, farming and industrialization has promoted both infectious and noninfectious diseases, as well as famines and malnutrition.\u00a0 Lieberman argues that while farming created more food and allowed populations to flourish, it also caused the farmer to work harder, experience worse health, and die younger.\u00a0 Lieberman asks, are some forms of ill health a necessary consequence of civilization?\u00a0 Despite modern assumptions, Lieberman argues that cultural evolution hasn’t halted natural selection, but instead, has accelerated it.\u00a0 Additionally, cultural evolution is moving at a fast pace as well, and while this is not directly heritable, we can pass environmental changes on to our children.\u00a0 He argues that new chronic conditions are not from new genes, but from how genes interact with a new environment.\u00a0 Lieberman gives examples of type 2 diabetes, myopia, and flat feet, which are all current problems, but ones that our ancestors certainly did not suffer from.\u00a0 He argues that it is essential for doctors to learn the evolutionary reasons behind chronic conditions, so that they can be treated from the source.\u00a0 Additionally, it is important to understand evolution to predict how infectious diseases and antibiotic resistant bacteria will respond.\u00a0 Lieberman also argues that many symptoms of illness, such as fever, may actually be adaptations, and it is important to understand the body’s reason for the way it is reacting.\u00a0 He introduces the idea of evolutionary mismatch, where genes that are advantageous in one environment are detrimental in another.\u00a0 Mismatches are caused by some environmental stimulus that is too much or too little, such as too much fat in the diet or too little sunlight.\u00a0 This is not a new problem, and Lieberman explains that mismatch likely occurred as Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa.\u00a0 Understand mismatch diseases is complicated and difficult, especially because it is difficult to determine what exactly humans are adapted for.\u00a0 Additionally, Lieberman makes the point that just because something is different, doesn’t mean that it is bad.\u00a0 For example, brushing your teeth is a modern idea, but it is unquestionably helpful.\u00a0 Another problem is that it is difficult to tell if a disease is a result of a mismatch if possible environmental causes are unknown.\u00a0 Lieberman also introduces the idea of dysevolution, which is a form of cultural evolution where the symptoms of a mismatch disease are treated, but not the cause.\u00a0 One example of this is cavities, which are treated with dentists, and not by removing the sugar from our diet, which is the underlying cause.\u00a0 Lieberman emphasizes that mismatch diseases and their causes must be understood fully to treat the true cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this chapter, Lieberman debates the merits of living like a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer.\u00a0 He explains that currently, there are unprecedented numbers of people able to live long and healthy lives, which is an improvement from even the last 100 years.\u00a0 Conversely, farming and industrialization has promoted both infectious and noninfectious diseases, as well as famines … Continue reading “Progress, Mismatch, and Dysevolution”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3707,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452789],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-progress-mismatch-and-dysevolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/caroline-langley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}