[extropy-chat] Effective relationships

[Anders Sandberg]

Can't quote my paper right now (still in internet cafe mode), but most
evidence suggests that humans form metastable, fairly monogamous dyads in
all societies. In societies where polygamy is accepted it is still less
than 20% of the men who do it. Adultery occurs in monogamous relations,
but it seems to be less than 20% of people who do it. Incidence of
children genetically unrelated to their official fathers appears to be
relatively low, on the order of 3%. The romantic love system appears to be
geared towards exclusivity; the lust and attachment systems allow multiple
partners, but not the mate selection system.

If another form of organisation was more stable or produced more happiness
it would likely be fairly prevalent. Since triads or tetrads do not occur
that often I would conclude that they are not stable in general.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University