[ExI] What Darwin Got Wrong?

spike spike66 at att.net
Thu Jun 3 00:57:13 UTC 2010


 


>> I haven't read the book, but that review almost sounds like 
>> what Darwin carefully differentiated as two separate effects: 
>> survival selection and mate selection... spike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org 
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Dan
> Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 11:23 AM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: Re: [ExI] What Darwin Got Wrong?
> 
> I'm reading the book before making any detailed comments, 
> but, so far, the authors haven't differentiated between the 
> two -- and I really don't think there's much of a difference 
> between them... Dan

Hmmm, I do respectfully disagree sir.  To really understand evolution and
Darwin's classic, one must recognize the critical difference between these
two evolutionary mechanisms, and all the implications for how it drives
evolution.  In most mammals and reptilians, mate selection is not as strong
a driver because female choice is not highly enabled: the dominant males
have large harems.  In the great apes, the dominant male gets most of the
sex.  But humans are an intriquing oddball case: female choice is highly
enabled, and perhaps getting moreso over time.  So that causes humans to
develop a wild and interesting array of behaviors to attract mates.  Ours
species is way out there in that we have a mind-boggling complicated mating
dance compared to every other species I can imagine.

A good exercise for the evolution fan is to really concentrate and think the
hell out of mate selection vs survival selection, and ponder all the many
implications.

spike





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