What’s going on? Lots of “brown” chat on Clubhouse.
Tag: Open Thread
Open Thread – 03/13/2021 – Brown Pundits
A long (paid) piece on Substack, They came, they saw, they left no trace…
except for all of Western Civilization. This is about the genetics of Italy.
My usual 7 PM PDT Friday night chat on Clubhouse will be about the genetics of Italy (Saturday morning India time). this link should work (if you are on an iPhone click it).
What Can Bidenโs Plan Do for Poverty? Look to Bangladesh. The usual Nicholas Kristof thing. That being said it is interesting that when there is talk about Bangladesh’s economic success (relative), a fair number of Indians point out major issues (reliance on the single sector for export). This is all fine…but honestly, it feels l ike sour grapes. In 2020, a horrible year, Bangladesh was #3 in growth in the world (and the fastest large nation).
Going to do an interview with a linguist who studies Proto-Indo-European for my podcast. Interesting how his papers suggest Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic are a clade. R1a FTW!
Update: Someone on the Subreddit found the archives of the original BP site from 2011/2012 (I have the archives in MySQL but haven’t loaded them; we suffered intense hacks from Hindutva in 2012/2013 so moved to blogspot for a while).
Also, BP got a Clubhouse Club! So we’ll do chats there soon.
Open Thread – 03/06/2021 – Brown Pundits
A Muslim Indian is kind of annoyed that I say “Muslims in the subcontinent are descended from Hindus.” By this, I mean 99% of the ancestry.
Of course, it can be hard to see the impact of Iranian ancestry. I’m going to look more closely to update my estimate.
I recently got contacted by a British research group. They sample thousands of Bangladeshis, and unlike the Pakistanis, they saw no internal structure aside from some individuals who seem to be a Tibeto-Burman tribal people. Like I said: the Bangladeshis might be called Hindus by Pakistanis, but the Pakistanis marry like they’re Hindus, the Bangladeshis don’t.
Open Thread โ 2/20/2021 โ Brown Pundits
What’s going on?
Open Thread – 2/6/2021
Also, we have a new Browncast:
Open Thread – 01/29/2021 – Brown Pundits
“Razib Khanโs two part essay on Indian history is brilliant. While itโs long for a blog post, youโll learn more about India than you would in many full length books.”
-Scott Sumner
From The Money Illusion. I think this is obviously hyperbolic, but I’m actually rather proud of these two pieces of writing, which come in about 10,000 words. The two essays:
– Stark Truth About Aryans: a story of India
– Stark Truth About Humans: a story of India
Also, for an “Indian face,” Ramesh Ponnuru on the pro-life movement in America.
I understand my Substack is spendy for Indians. I’m thinking of doing a “special offer” for Indian readers. And yet, as it is, I would estimate that 25% of the people who subscribed have South Asian names! (I will tell you I have more than 500 subscribers as of now)
What’s going on with the protests and the farm stuff? Too much stuff in the US for me to track India. Any articles you recommend?
Reading An Environmental History of India. I would recommend it, it’s pretty decent as an introduction to someone who has no background in this field or topic.
Open Thread – 01/23/2020
My piece Stark Truth About the Aryans is doing well. Pretty good feedback. Part 2 will be out in the next day or so.
Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain.
Update: part 2 is out.
Open Thread – 1/16/2021 – Brown Pundits
What’s going on?
I have a 6000-word piece on Indian genetics coming out on my Substak in the next few days (waiting on some maps that were commissioned).
Update: The pieces (had to break into two) are ready to go. Part 1 today and part 2 tomorrow. I commissioned some simple maps and created an infographic. Since these will be “paid” (you have to subscribe), I’ll post the infographic for people here:
Open Thread – 1/9/2021 – Brown Pundits
A lot went down this week. A lot.
I’ll be going on Abhinav Prakash’s podcast to talk genetics next week.
Open Thread – 01/02/2021 – Brown Pundits
Here is hoping for a better 2021!
Massive migrations from Steppes to Bronze Age India was indeed a myth. We have gathered Ancient DNA evidence now. The findings will be out next year. Thanks to the great efforts of scientists from India, USA, UK and others. Warm Greetings for upcoming 2021!
โ Niraj Rai (@NirajRai3) December 30, 2020
Lots of questions about this tweet. I like Niraj Rai and Gyaneshwer Chaubey personally. But, I’m pretty skeptical of how people are interpreting this. My own views are pretty straightforward, and outlined in my post the “Aryan Integration Theory”.
I believe that about 14% of the total ancestry in South Asia derives from the Central Asian steppe ~3,500 years ago. These people derive from a “reflux” migration from Central Europe of a Corded Ware related people (“Battle Axe Culture”).* The fraction is higher in Pakistan, 20-30%. Much lower in southern India, ~5% or so (excepting Brahmins). Whenever this is a “massive migration” is up to you to interpret.
I do think they brought R1a and lots of aspects of Indian culture, such as Indo-European language. On the other hand, most of the ancestry and a lot of the culture was “indigenous.” The Indic culture we see in the Iron Age is clearly a synthesis, which was present even in the Vedic corpus.
Also, in the annals of self-promotion, I had some free posts on my Substack before Christmas:
The Age of Genetic Engineering Begins
* Something I point out to people is that this assumes that the steppe people arrived from Khorasan unmixed. If the Indo-Aryans who arrived in the Punjabs already mixed with Iranian peoples in their sojourn then the fraction is an underestimate, though I doubt it is 2-fold.