Interesting (and scary) possibility

I
This pandemic puts trains of thought into motion that may not have come about otherwise.
We know that across the globe there are groups of people that have traits that are similar, and traits that are different, both in a physical and mental sense.
We also know that people are amazingly similar, at a deeper level, both physically and mentally. The same goes for animals, insects. bacteria, viruses, etc.
A theory as to how this has come about is as follows:
Life develops under an umbrella of natural conditions that are forever changing and also modified by lifeforms as they emerge and multiply: The North American prairies being shaped by millions of bison over thousands of years, being an example.
From time to time, there are major upheavals that can radically change a relatively steady state process in a very short time, like the arrival in the Americas of Europeans, as a case in point, almost wiping out countless millions of bison, and countless millions of native people as well, by way of imported pathogens.
So, are the similarities we observe developed during times of highly connected communities?
Which are subsequently shattered by some momentous event, leaving surviving pockets that will develop relatively independently to account for group differences?
What do you think?

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