Researchers at University of New Mexico and the University of British Columbia have argued in a series of published papers that disease determines much of our behavior.
Where diseases are common, people are less open to new experiences, more xenophobic and mean to strangers to avoid new diseases. When people avoid strangers, communication breaks down which creates different cultures and languages over the long run. For example: Sweden has few diseases and 15 languages vs. Ghana's (of similar size) many diseases and 89 languages.
We even saw this trend with the outbreak of swine flu - some started shaking hands less, wearing masks, even PDA declined - "Handshakes were skipped at college commencements. Mexicans were urged to not kiss on the cheek. Churches stopped having parishioners drink out of a common, holy cup."
It will be a long time before mainstream science accepts the research as truth, but it is food for thought.
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