One question I continue to have about the "Social complexity + farming model of intelligence" involves the difference between Europe, East Asia, and other places where farming and civilization also developed early. For example, civilization and farming started in the fertile crescent and Egypt at a very early date. But the average IQ of this region is not impressive. What explains the difference between places like this and Northern Europe/East Asia?
Off the top of my head, civilizational decline and rigid social classes end up creating a less competitive society overall. This is why India has very smart people at the top of society, but a low average. The Middle East also has smart elites, many of whom now live in the diaspora ( Jews, Lebanese, Armenians, Greeks, Levantine Sunnis, Iranians), but the average IQ is somewhat low in the modern Middle East. East Asia and Northern Europe were comparatively less stratified societies, so overall IQ is higher in those regions. Northern Europe civilized somewhat late on, so this makes sense. The interesting question is China, which has been civilized for quite long, but the gap between elites and commoners didn't grow as drastically as in other places.
I think rather than Social complexity + farming, it's farming and social complexity in cold weather. Neolithic samples from the Levant and Zagros, IIRC, have low IQ & EA PGSs. Northwest Anatolia was colder in the early neolithic, and so maybe that's why EEFs developed high IQs. Another case in point is NE Asians vs SE Asians.
Your general point about cold weather being a factor is true, but the Zagros mountains are quite high, almost as high as the Alps, and has cold winters with snow. The Indus civilization was Zagros in origin, and the original Elamite civilization in Persia was also Zagrosian. I'm not sure about research on their EA PGS, but some Zagrosian-heavy pops today have high IQ, like Brahmins, Iranians, Armenians,etc. The trend is the same as East Asia though: people who lived in the cold got smarter and then swept into warmer areas.
One question I continue to have about the "Social complexity + farming model of intelligence" involves the difference between Europe, East Asia, and other places where farming and civilization also developed early. For example, civilization and farming started in the fertile crescent and Egypt at a very early date. But the average IQ of this region is not impressive. What explains the difference between places like this and Northern Europe/East Asia?
Off the top of my head, civilizational decline and rigid social classes end up creating a less competitive society overall. This is why India has very smart people at the top of society, but a low average. The Middle East also has smart elites, many of whom now live in the diaspora ( Jews, Lebanese, Armenians, Greeks, Levantine Sunnis, Iranians), but the average IQ is somewhat low in the modern Middle East. East Asia and Northern Europe were comparatively less stratified societies, so overall IQ is higher in those regions. Northern Europe civilized somewhat late on, so this makes sense. The interesting question is China, which has been civilized for quite long, but the gap between elites and commoners didn't grow as drastically as in other places.
I think rather than Social complexity + farming, it's farming and social complexity in cold weather. Neolithic samples from the Levant and Zagros, IIRC, have low IQ & EA PGSs. Northwest Anatolia was colder in the early neolithic, and so maybe that's why EEFs developed high IQs. Another case in point is NE Asians vs SE Asians.
Your general point about cold weather being a factor is true, but the Zagros mountains are quite high, almost as high as the Alps, and has cold winters with snow. The Indus civilization was Zagros in origin, and the original Elamite civilization in Persia was also Zagrosian. I'm not sure about research on their EA PGS, but some Zagrosian-heavy pops today have high IQ, like Brahmins, Iranians, Armenians,etc. The trend is the same as East Asia though: people who lived in the cold got smarter and then swept into warmer areas.