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Who knows? Maybe she’s waiting for the electrician or someone like him. Your enclosures raise an interesting point, but one that, far from complicating matters, is in line with the view I presented. Had I not taken that second coffee break I would surely have thought of it myself. The point is this: recent research suggests that Native Americans lacked “genetic diversity”–bluntly put, that they were inbred; virtually the entire indigenous population of the Americas was descended from just four women, or at least four groups of closely related women. We also know that a virus you contract from a family member is far more likely to be fatal than one you get from a total stranger. That’s because the family-bred virus has already figured out your clan’s genetic code and can evade your natural defenses. Since Native Americans were all close cousins (at least compared to Europeans), a virus that killed one would pretty much kill them all. In short, American Indians were more vulnerable not simply because they’d been exposed to fewer diseases, as I argued, but also because they’d been exposed to fewer humans. They were exposed to plenty of both once European settlers arrived.
