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David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolution, Sonic AI
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David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolution
Dwarkesh Podcast
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May 8, 2026
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2:13:49
Interview
David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolution
From
The Dwarkesh Podcast
David Reich
(Professor of Ancient DNA, Harvard, guest)
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Executive Summary
A new large-scale ancient DNA study reveals that natural selection in European and Middle Eastern populations has significantly accelerated over the last 10,000 years, particularly since the Bronze Age.
This selection has been strongest for immune and metabolic traits, likely driven by changes in diet, population density, and disease exposure associated with agriculture and urbanization.
The study found a surprising lack of strong selection signals for behavioral or psychiatric traits, suggesting they are governed by highly complex polygenic architectures that are difficult to shift.
These findings challenge the long-held view that human evolution has been quiescent in recent history and demonstrate the power of new, scaled-up genomic techniques to uncover biological history.
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The Acceleration of Recent Human Evolution
The Biological Battleground: Immunity and Metabolism
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Processed May 16, 2026
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