• dr_scientist@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I wrote a great reply that was brilliant and generous and had all the clever bits, and then Lemmy deleted it.
    You’re right, clan-based practices have had and continue to have struggles both with modernisation and basic human rights. They are not idealised Rousseauean societies. But the author is basically saying that this shift in marriage practices is the sole contributor to Western science. It’s a stretch to be sure, and it doesn’t even have the evidence right.
    Here’s a critique with quotes from people way smarter than me.

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/20/the-weirdest-people-in-the-world-review-a-theory-of-everything-study

    • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It can be a contributing factor without being the only factor, of course. We can accept the author’s general ideas without accepting all of the conclusions he draws from them.