Effect of caste systems

[bigfoot]

I have a question for which i would like a complete answer

there is a caste system in india with 4 castes kshatriyas(people who spent their life fighting they were basically warriors) brahmins(people who spent their life doing intellectual stuff) and vaishyas and shudras

 

and this caste system started thousands of years ago also people married within their own caste

 

so my question is does the this really long(1000 years) duration for which people who had certain specific professions affect the mental and physical faculties of the people born in todays modern world. I mean do brahmin's children today have a higher IQ and are smarter than other castes because their ancestors spent thousands of years doing stuff that helped develop their brains. and the same for kshatriyas are they more capable of being warriors(i.e in terms of their bodies).

 

PS i do not want an answer saying that hey look at this guy he won a nobel prize for physics and he is not a brahmin i want a general answer which considers most of the people

also i have the same question about jewish people why are there so many jews who are say billionaires and stuff

 

IN SHORT DOES A LONG PERIOD OF HAVING A CERTAIN PROFESSION IN A CERTAIN RELIGION OR CASTE WITHIN A RELIGION AFFECT THE FACULTIES OF THE 1000TH(I EXAGGERATE A BIT ) GENERATION HAVE THOSE FACULTIES BETTER DEVELOPED IN THEM

 

ALSO Is IQ INHERITED OR CAN IT BE

Edited December 25, 2011 by bigfoot

[iNow]

my question is does the this really long(1000 years) duration for which people who had certain specific professions affect the mental and physical faculties of the people born in todays modern world. I mean do brahmin's children today have a higher IQ and are smarter than other castes because their ancestors spent thousands of years doing stuff that helped develop their brains. and the same for kshatriyas are they more capable of being warriors(i.e in terms of their bodies).

 

<...>

 

i have the same question about jewish people why are there so many jews who are say billionaires and stuff

 

IN SHORT DOES A LONG PERIOD OF HAVING A CERTAIN PROFESSION IN A CERTAIN RELIGION OR CASTE WITHIN A RELIGION AFFECT THE FACULTIES OF THE 1000TH(I EXAGGERATE A BIT ) GENERATION HAVE THOSE FACULTIES BETTER DEVELOPED IN THEM

Genes are transmitted. Skills are taught. I'd have to say, no.

 

There may be some genetic trends where certain skills and traits were selected for (and people who were really good at a certain train were preferred sexually by the opposite sex), but the mere act of engaging in those tasks would not have a great transmission to future generations since... skills are taught and practiced.

 

 

 

ALSO Is IQ INHERITED OR CAN IT BE

There are genetic components to intelligence, but genetics alone cannot and does not dictate the mental skill and ability of a child. There are significant environmental influences, including (but not limited to) nutrition and availability of food during early developmental years, social stressors, experience, resource availability, and which teachers and educators are around the child during their lives.

[immortal]

I come from a place where these caste systems prevailed for thousands of years in the past and it is still in existence even today and I suspect this common system will continue to prevail in the near future and will remain as an integral part of hindu society.

 

It is true that these castes also called as varnas had specific professional roles in their society and they had to practice only those duties and professions. It is also true that they had to mate with individuals with in their caste i.e of the same kind. The opposite sex didn't had too many choices to make since it was pre-determined priorly at a very young age as to who her mate is and therefore sexual selection was quite complex which involved lots of factors and played a huge part in shaping those choices.

 

Even though this kind of rules were made for various religious reasons, one can speak in evolutionary terms and it makes some sense when one considers the success of this system which ensures that genes and memes(ideas) are passed on to future generations with high fidelity

 

Once humans started settling around fertile lands developing farming and taming of cattle which was so different from their nomadic behaviour our cultural evolution kicked in and it started shaping our genomes and removed the immense pressures on Natural selection to find soultions to emerging problems.

 

So though forcing individuals to mate with in their caste reduces diversity and variety of existing genotypes which are so vital for natural selection during times of environmental stress and crisis since those populations which provide raw materials in the form of variety to natural selection are more likely to come out of those crisis evolving as much better individuals however with the advent of cultural evolution these selection pressures during the times of environmental stress were wiped out by stable communal systems.

 

The Ksatriyas protected the fertile lands from the foreign enemy, the Vaishyas provided the economic strength for import of new goods, the shudras were workers who helped all other varnas and finally the Brahmanas would pray to gods of nature for the welfare of the whole community, they used to do perform rituals to please the gods and they would bring rain even during times of extreme drought. In this way all the four varnas divided their societal tasks helping each other for the good of their own caste and there by ensuring that their genes are passed on to their progeny.

 

Since all the four castes very necessary for a stable system it was very important that the individuals in the respective castes proliferated so that they meet the needs of the society on the whole and therefore cultural evolution introduced emotional barriers of reproduction between the caste systems instead of the physical barriers which would been introduced if natural selection was the only force shaping human beings. These reproductional barriers had to be introduced to prevent the wastage of gametes since humans spend most of their energy in developing a progeny and since the costs are too high there had to be a way to ensure that the developed progeny favoured the stability of the communal system rather than impeding its success. So individuals would perform their tasks more efficiently if they had two dominant genes in them instead of one dominant and one recessive gene which would fail to express its trait to its full potential. Therefore forcing individuals to mate with in their caste was a form of ancient genetic engineering allowing dominant genes of a specific trait to be more likely passed on to next generation increasing the reproductive success of the community on the whole.

 

Therefore those mutations which favoured the increase in development of muscles in ksatriyas and those mutations which favoured the development of neurons and its differentiation in Brahmans might have got selected and accumulated over time but this doesn't in any way make the ksatriyas more stronger and Brahmans being more smarter than other members of the castes. One will become smart and strong by his own efforts, interests and other environmental and nurture factors.

 

A Brahmin by birth will not be hard-wired with thousands of verses and mantras from the religious texts, they have to practice and memorize them, similarly a ksatriya by birth will not be knowing all the art of fighting in the battle field. Its just their bodies will favour them in their interests and desires to learn those tasks. History has shown us that there were many ksatriyas who went on to become Brahmans by achieving Brahmanahood by one'e own shear hard work and efforts while Brahmans by birth who had to achieve Brahmanahood failed to achieve it and remained as only jati(namesake) Brahmans and not as true Brahmans. So no where it says that intelligence is inheritable. Some genes might favour the process of learning and developing intelligence but it doesn't in any way make the individual more smarter than other individuals and the same holds for Ksatriyas too.

 

The Distinctions and divisions of castes which prevailed during those times can be found in the Yajnvalkya smriti text, chapter IV, pg 184 -221. I have uploaded this chapter to google docs. We can better understand the dynamics of those caste systems and their duties by studying this text which forms the basis foundation for hinduism.