[extropy-chat] evolution again

[Kevin Freels]

MessageYou are assuming, of course, that the penis size is regulated by a standalone gene. Penis size could easily be caused by genes that share control with other features as well. Butts could be the same way. Not every phenotype has to have it's own selection pressure. Many complex traits have phenotypes which can ride along with others since they are all sharing various alleles. These combinations can create situations where certain phenotypes appear in conjunction with other phenotypes on a fairly regular basis. As long as their cost does not outweigh the benefit of other features that come with it, the frequency of that phenotype will increase. 

Kevin Freels

  Take the penis.  (No, not THAT definition of take, dammit, pay attention.)
  Its survival cost to benefit ratio Rs is surely larger than 1.  But its
  mating attractiveness cost to benefit ratio Ra is less than 1.  So
  we can multiply the two ratios together to get an overall evolutionary
  cost to benefit ratio.  If that overall ratio is greater than 1,
  we might expect that structure to evolve smaller.
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