A ten year experiment with guppies in a pond with no predators and another pond with predators, resulted in later generations with bigger bodies, later reproduction, fewer offspring, and slower growth rate in the pond with no predators.
In the pond with predators they had smaller bodies, earlier reproduction, more offspring, and faster growth (shorter time to reproductive maturity).
The same phenomena is observed in humans in violent areas in the world versus peaceful areas, and even within the United States (cities with low violence vs more violent inner cities).
I speculate that surplus; defined as incremental wealth, GDP, or income per capita; also induces evolutionary behavior.
I think, in large or small groups like countries, cities, villages, or even clans and bands, once a wealth pyramid is established the less productive members focus more time and effort on extracting from the productive members than anything else.
They do this by using multiple strategies: Laziness or less work for equal share in the hunt, crop, income, or other kind of distribution; moral extortion, e.g. “if you don’t give me resources for free that means you are evil and will burn in hell”; outright political violent action, such as increasing taxes, expropriation, persecution, ideological purging; etc.
Similar to nations with high exit barriers, where governments naturally increase taxes ad infinitum, productive members, in cultures who have built a peaceful society with surplus, suffer a double whammy: They reproduce relatively less and they become the target of extortion and theft. In other words, they become easy focal points as do alphas in social animal groups.
When people were roaming the lands 2 million to 20 thousand years ago, I am sure it was traumatic but easier to just move to another place e.g. Erectus populated Eurasia, Sapiens did the same, and then Asians populated the Americas in only 15 thousand years.
Code Is Law
