Topic: Brain Size

The conversation shifts to the historical impact of agriculture on human physiology, noting that human brain size has decreased since the shift from animal fats to grain-based carbohydrates. Dolan discusses nutrigenomics and the idea that humans are not biologically adapted to the high-lectin, high-carbohydrate diet introduced by large-scale farming. He suggests that this dietary shift has led to a decline in cognitive function and physical robustness.

The discussion challenges the mid-20th-century notion that Stone Age life was "nasty, brutish, and short." Gordon White points out that Paleolithic humans possessed brains slightly larger than modern humans, suggesting a high level of cognitive sophistication. He argues for a reconstruction of history that gives dignity to these ancestors rather than assuming a linear progression toward Western civilization.