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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Factual reality : humans have evolved towards larger brains. It indicates that intelligence in all its forms (eg. social intelligence) was a selection factor.

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TGGP's avatar

I'm less familiar with the non-anglophone world, but in England at least my understanding is that they were universal long before then. The anti-Stratfordians often complain that someone with Shakespeare's background (and inconsistent signing of his own surname) could not have written those plays, nobody objects that he shouldn't have had a surname. I remember reading something in Slate about how Jews (who were banned in England between Edward I and Cromwell). were among the last Europeans to have surnames.

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