Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics

Keywords

Neanderthals; Denisovans; Homo sapiens; Aggression; Genes

Background and Literature Survey

“Europeans have three times more Neanderthal genes for lipid catabolism than Asians or Africans" has been the discovered conclusion of a trustworthy journal paper [1]. It seems that a previously popular theory that the Homo sapiens somehow took the place of the Neanderthals, was not quite correct. The scientists and anthropologists had to arrive at the deduction that the Neanderthal men and archaic Europeans coexisted together somewhat, and that led to some interbreeding [2].

At the current time, the popular thought is that the Homo sapiens from Africa met up with the Neanderthals somewhere in the Middle East, probably in locations on the Eastern Mediterranean coast. The mix then went on west and northwest to the European continent. The Homo sapiens who left Africa and went on up to Asia, did not meet up with that branch of Neanderthals. In Asia, the Homo sapiens are thought to have interbred with the Denisovans (who were hominid contemporaries of the Neanderthals). The gene discovery has been theorized to be a function of the location of the residences of these archaic Europeans and archaic Asians. Hence, the archaic Europeans (Homo sapiens) probably ate more meat than the archaic Asians (Homo sapiens).

The perspective of the current author is that the genes have led to evolution and culture of more aggression. It is more necessary for Homo sapiens to be faster and quicker enabling them to catch/ kill the animals for regular consumption on a repeated basis.

One question in anthropology that is relevant to the current work is the relationship between the archaic hominid, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Two 2016 papers [3,4] which recounted the sequencing of Neanderthal DNA from fossil bone were hopeful. But the two research works came to dissimilar conclusions about the Neanderthals. Wall and Kim [5] re-examined the data from [3,4] and concluded that the data from one of the published works was incorrect. The possible reason is contamination with modern human DNA, which caused deductions from one of them to be suspect [3].

Natives of the Americas came from Asia

It is now popularly accepted that the natives of both North and South America came from Asia [6-8]. Reference [6] is a review article on the topic, and reference [7] is a definitive work in Science. It was shown that the North American native Indians and Eskimos are related to some Asian groups [8].

In the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia [9], it was entered that “big-animal hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Eurasia into North America over a land and ice bridge (Beringia), that existed between 45,000-12,000 Before Common Era (BCE) or 47,000- 14,000 Before Present (BP) [10]. Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska.” The actual difference in dates between BCE and BP is 1950 years, or the year 1950, before atomic bomb testing above ground which altered carbon C12/C14 ratios in the time period which came after.

That both North and South American continents have been conquered and are now majority-controlled by descendants of the European races provide substantial evidence that the Europeans are clearly more aggressive. One of the many reasons for the easy conquest of the Incas, for instance, was that the Incas did not have horses, or any other beast of burden. The native South Americans did not manipulate the genetic pool of their native animals to breed an animal which would be capable of transporting a man. This indicates a lack of aggression towards animals, and a more accepting behavior to what Nature had provided. That the paleo Indians of South America never did domesticate any of their animals or bred them as beasts of burden, is another qualitative clue on the milder manner of these paleo natives.

National Anthems

The general philosophy for defense of a modern nation may be gleaned from the national anthem of that nation, which is typically taught to the young of the country. It is part of the learning process to be a good and loyal citizen of any country. National anthems are written and sung to inspire patriotism. It is not the intention of this section to imply that national anthems are related to genetics. The values of a nation are enshrined in its national anthem and do reveal the goals of a nation. National anthems are taught to the residents first as school children i.e., at a stage in life when humans are most susceptible to suggestions from authority. In that way, the minds of the young masses are influenced by national anthems. Consequently, their behavior and actions in later life are affected by the words of the national anthems.

The national anthems of the five permanent members of the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council, all mention victory and/ or human conflict. These leading powers are the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (U.K.), Russia, China and France. The first two are the current and the previous superpowers in the world. The noticeably non-permanent members of the UN Security Council who have these tell-tale lyrics in their anthems are Turkey, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Denmark and other European countries, of the nations explored [11]. Most other nations do not declare in their national anthems any aggressive aims or allusion to physical struggles. Of the five permanent members, only China is a non-European nation. However, the genes of the Mongols do run in the blood of the modern Chinese people. In history, the Mongols did overrun parts of Europe, and were the only Asians who accomplished the conquest. Hence, these facts add to the evidence that the permanent members of the UN Security Council all have anthems that reveal some aggression in their citizens, and these aggressive tendencies may have come from genetics and nurtured from young via national anthems. The overwhelming majority, four out of five, are from the European races.

Artificial Meat Producers

Currently, there is a race to make the first successful big impact on the world meat market with artificial meat. The competitors are not after the 600 million dollar meat-alternatives market, but they are after the 180 billion dollar meat market. Ethan Brown of the USA has pioneered the meat burger, in his quest to manufacture artificial meat from plant sources [12].

On the other side of the Atlantic, a Dutch professor, Roberto Ferdman, is growing meat from stem cells of the cow [13]. It is a competing route to producing artificial meat to feed the hungry masses.

It is noted that the leaders in this worldwide competition are from the Caucasian race, giving further evidence for the natural instinct to look for meat in new forms to help feed the world. In comparison, in India, where most of the majority of the 1.3 billion people are Hindus and vegetarian, it would be unlikely that this topic of research and entrepreneurship would be popular.

According to Ferdman [13], people in developed countries like the USA, eat about 210 pounds of meat a year. In developing countries, the people eat closer to 66 pounds each year, but increasing fast. It is predicted that by 2030, the average person will eat about 100 pounds daily, up from about 90 pounds daily now.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Incidences

From [14], the percentage of women reporting being victims of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) incidences in sample nations is as follows:

Canada (29%), New Zealand (35%), Switzerland (21%), USA (33%) [15,16]. The Philippines report as low as 10% [15], and India reported about 20% [17,18].

There are more IPV incidences in the United States of America than the Philippines, for instance [19,20]. Reference [19] contains some statistics at the national level also. In DVS [20], it was claimed that a woman is either beaten or assaulted every 9 s in the USA. This particularly shocking statistic gives new meaning to the name ‘wife-beater shirt’, when referring to a man’s piece of clothing, known also as a ‘singlet’ in Malaysia and the Philippines. The singlet is a popular piece of clothing in tropical countries because it absorbs human sweat. That it is also popular in the Southern USA and Southeast USA, and is called a ‘wife-beater shirt or undershirt’ implies plenty.

Discussion and Conclusion

To help achieve harmony and accord amongst the nations which populate the permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council, it is good to study and research through the sciences and social sciences, some of the predispositions of the peoples of the Americas, Europe and Asia. Nations from the continents of Africa and Australia are not on the U.N. Security Council.

Through a systematic review of the evidences, the main conclusion embodied in the title of this article has been deduced. Firstly, the genetic information of the Neanderthals and European Homo Sapiens has been used to deduce that the Asians are predisposed to eat less meat than the Europeans. As a consequence, it is the perspective of the current work that this characteristic leads to a predisposition of aggression amongst the Europeans, relative to the Asians. Then, the history of the paleo natives of the Americas is examined. This is followed by looking at the lyrics of many national anthems, including all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Lastly, the artificial meat producers of the Western Nations are reported; a modern scientific pursuit not given high priority in other nations around the world. There is also a quick reference to the number of more Intimate Partner Violence incidents in the USA, as compared to the Philippines, for instance. This may be owing to the better reporting capabilities of the USA as compared to a developing nation like the Philippines. On the other hand, it could also be because there are actually more events of Intimate Partner Violence. The Philippines was a former colony of the USA, and have adopted many governmental and military systems from the USA.

More research work should be done to map the genes of the Neanderthal and the Deninovan to Homo Sapiens of Europe, Asia and Africa. Much can be learned about some of our human predispositions to certain behaviors and health conditions.

One could bring up the fact that the Japanese Empire was one to be reckoned with, and comparable to any notable empires in history. In history, the author looks at only the ‘big empires' and the ones which lasted. The Japanese war in the Pacific lasted around five years, a mere 'moment' in the millennia of recorded human history. The Japanese started in China first because they wanted to use Chinese soldiers to fight for them in the rest of the world (they had to subjugate them first). They did not quite succeed in their first steps for ‘superpower’ status. Hence, no superior aggressive power was shown by the Japanese. The Second World War set the stage for the United States of America to slowly but surely assume its role as the superpower of the world.

Acknowledgment

This work is dedicated to better mutual understanding between East and West.

References

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