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Tropical Diseases and Tropical Intelligence

Edward Miller

10.46469/mq.2024.65.2.5

Published: 2024/12/01

Abstract

The high incidence of contagious disease in the tropics implies strong selection for resistance to these diseases. A simple model, expressed in a graph, implies that the stronger the selection for disease resistance, the weaker the selection for other traits, notably intelligence. This is compared to other explanations for racial differences in intelligence, including variations in the need to walk long distances, the use of intelligence in mate choice, moves into new environments, and increasing complexity. To make the removal of more adverse alleles possible without risking local extinction, high pre-reproductive mortality from infectious diseases (but not only from infectious diseases) selects for high birth rates. Keywords: Race, Intelligence, Climate, Diseases, Evolution, r/K selection, Time preference

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