[ExI] mate selection vs sotf

[Stefano Vaj]

2011/12/18 spike <spike66 at att.net>

> Darwin’s Origin of Species details two mechanisms involved in speciation:
> survival of the fittest and mate selection.  My neighbor’s visit this
> evening caused me to wonder if in the case of humans, the two mechanisms
> can both be at work simultaneously and in concert.
>

Yes, I think that in post-Dawkins Darwinism it is clear that natural
selection and sexual selection are one and the same - the whisper of the
genes is supposed to recommend the choice of a partner with the higher
chances to give place to an abundant replication thereof.

The superior fitness of the bearer in survival terms may be instrumental
to, but it by no means required for, such end. Higher fertility or sexual
vicious circles (say, the pens of the Argo bird's tail) may well compensate
for it.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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