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Domestication (mander.xyz)
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[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 88 points 5 months ago

I know it’s a joke but this is science memes and it plays into a widespread misconception about early humans that we were some kind of blood drenched carnivores. Not true. Humans have always mostly eaten plants supplemented with some meat or other animal foods.

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 36 points 5 months ago

Also it's not like "getting food is easier" is the only hypothesis out there as to why we settled down. Another one, IMO much more in line with human nature, is that we figured out how to ferment beer and for that reason planted buttloads of grain.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Since there’s no written record, it’s hard to know for sure but I believe it was because agricultural communities were able to reproduce much faster and live at much higher densities, so they tended to win conflicts and displace societies based on foraging—even though foragers had better quality of life and didn’t normally experience the food shortages people imagine.

That said, modern foraging societies have largely converted to agriculture after being subjugated and not because they were hungry. So there is some evidence to support this hypothesis.

[-] Venator@lemmy.nz 9 points 5 months ago

Also the foraging people might end up living on the periphery of a settlement, foraging and then trading what they foraged with the settlement to make thier lives easier.

[-] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 5 months ago

The loss of roaming territory to the sedentary oppressors might also have something to do with the transition.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Right, that’s what I mean. Agricultural societies were likely better organized and more populous and so better able to defend and expel rivals from their lands. Foragers were forced into increasingly marginal lands over time, and all forager societies today exist on land that is essentially unsuited for agriculture, which is the only reason they have survived to this day.

[-] Comment105@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I don't know how suitable this is, but I instantly thought of it as sort of comparable to bacteria in the wild, compared to the same bacteria moved to a sterile environment and being fed growth medium. The latter can grow to vastly larger quantities in a comparable area, maybe even in a giant vat. But if there's enough of a problem with the single source of growth medium, some kind of contamination or just no more supply, the whole colony dies. It's a more successful colony, but in a potentially far less stable state unless the conditions can continue to be kept that good.

[-] Geobloke@lemm.ee 16 points 5 months ago

It depends so much on location and period, as an example, the Inuit diet consisted of a lot of meat whole the Kaurna in Australia ate lots of yams.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yeah you’re right, I probably stated it over-broadly. I’m more talking about the typical prehistoric human diet but there were exceptions.

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 5 months ago
[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 72 points 5 months ago

You ever think about how corn is just really tall grass.

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 5 months ago
[-] Yondoza@sh.itjust.works 51 points 5 months ago

Wheat, rice, barley, rye, corn, millet... Even bamboo is grass!

Well done grass. You really won this round.

[-] Skua@kbin.earth 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

We thought we were the ones domesticating grass when we invented agriculture, but the grass isn't the one that changed how it lives

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 21 points 5 months ago

Upvote because the thought of rolling fields of bananas made me happy.

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 months ago

I don't know if you knew this but the banana tree isn't a tree, but actually some kind of giant grass. So a field of bananas trees is technically a field of grass.

[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 2 points 5 months ago

No. While corn truly is in the Poaceae, bananas are in the Musaceae. They are not even in the Poales! They are in fact more closely related to ginger and bird of paradise plants (all in the Zingiberales).

[-] veganpizza69@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

🌾🍚

🥖🍞

🌽🍿

[-] Texas_Hangover@lemm.ee -3 points 4 months ago

Gimmie a couple more stomach chambers and I will.

[-] abcd@feddit.de 45 points 5 months ago
[-] GregorTacTac@lemm.ee 16 points 5 months ago

The best kind of meme

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 5 points 5 months ago

Might need to rewatch her stuff. So funny

[-] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

She is hilarious. Her charachter is amazing in Motherland (Netflix)

[-] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Last I heard this was because of overpopulation, making hunting more difficult.

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today -4 points 5 months ago

Okay but this is incorrect. Agriculture isn't "eating plants" its cultivating plants.

[-] Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee 29 points 5 months ago

Cunk on Earth and Cunk in Britain are parody shows. Everything she says in incorrect.

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 months ago

Does she ever admit that? Because that would cause a paradox

[-] cheddar@programming.dev 4 points 5 months ago

Are you saying that plants can run away?

[-] Comment105@lemm.ee 5 points 5 months ago

Yes, and it's very frustrating. People don't realize how difficult the life of a produce farmer is. There's a reason we tie all the produce into the ground. Potatoes used to be a fucking nightmare before we started doing it the new way, burying them in dirt.

Do you have any idea how high a potato jumps if given the chance?

[-] flan@hexbear.net 10 points 5 months ago

yea but on the other hand this is clearly from a comedy skit so not sure this is worth the exercise in pedantry.

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

Now just hang on a minute, this is the internet after all! How dare you have a sane and rational take on the situation!?

I demand to be called the spurn of a worthless whore ...or something!

this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
961 points (97.7% liked)

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