[ExI] [GRG] NewAbs: The Phenotype of IQ is Polygenic x 1, 000 Genes

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Damien
Broderick
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 12:06 PM
To: Gerontology Research Group; 'ExI chat list'
Subject: Re: [ExI] [GRG] NewAbs: The Phenotype of IQ is Polygenic x 1, 000
Genes

On 8/10/2011 11:02 AM, Richard Harper wrote:

>> When people first learn about fitness-indicator theory there is a 
> tendency to think of it in terms of the peacock's tail, but it is much 
> more than that in many ways, and is still a fairly hot area of research.
...

>Here is a notion that probably has cropped up (or been crushed
resoundingly) in the literature: despite the principle that evolution is
blind to phenotypes once they're past reproductive capacity (due allowance
made for keeping grannies alive to tend to babies, teach them to speak,
etc), I wonder if some apparent instances of "deterioration" 
might actually be adaptations promoting the survival of one's
lineage...Damien Broderick

The notion that evolution is blind past reproductive years gets all messed
up in the human species, because the real driver is mate selection.  Those
past reproductive years in the human species have an enormous influence over
the phenotype.  In a lot of important ways, it really simplifies everything
to leave humans out of the equation completely and treat human evolution as
a related but separate topic, since we mess up everything with memetic
influence on mate selection.

spike