hirako
September 9, 2009, 10:12pm
26
<p>
Not necessarily. Alcoholic males are definitely not considered attractive. You do have a point regarding sexual activity, but [there’s</a> a good biological reason for it](<a href=“http://denisdutton.com/baumeister.htm]there’s ”>http://denisdutton.com/baumeister.htm ):
Consider this question: What percent of our ancestors were women?</p>
<p>It’s not a trick question, and it’s not 50%. True, about half the people who ever lived were women, but that’s not the question. We’re asking about all the people who ever lived who have a descendant living today. Or, put another way, yes, every baby has both a mother and a father, but some of those parents had multiple children.</p>
<p>Recent research using DNA analysis answered this question about two years ago. Today’s human population is descended from twice as many women as men. </p>
<p>I think this difference is the single most underappreciated fact about gender. To get that kind of difference, you had to have something like, throughout the entire history of the human race, maybe 80% of women but only 40% of men reproduced.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>For women throughout history (and prehistory), the odds of reproducing have been pretty good. Later in this talk we will ponder things like, why was it so rare for a hundred women to get together and build a ship and sail off to explore unknown regions, whereas men have fairly regularly done such things? But taking chances like that would be stupid, from the perspective of a biological organism seeking to reproduce. They might drown or be killed by savages or catch a disease. For women, the optimal thing to do is go along with the crowd, be nice, play it safe. The odds are good that men will come along and offer sex and you’ll be able to have babies. All that matters is choosing the best offer. We’re descended from women who played it safe.</p>
<p>For men, the outlook was radically different. If you go along with the crowd and play it safe, the odds are you won’t have children. Most men who ever lived did not have descendants who are alive today. Their lines were dead ends. Hence it was necessary to take chances, try new things, be creative, explore other possibilities. Sailing off into the unknown may be risky, and you might drown or be killed or whatever, but then again if you stay home you won’t reproduce anyway. We’re most descended from the type of men who made the risky voyage and managed to come back rich. In that case he would finally get a good chance to pass on his genes. We’re descended from men who took chances (and were lucky).
</p>
<p>While males can simultaneously father several children (and those that did have any children often did, as a large number of males back in the day died before having any children, so the ones still alive had to pick up the slack), women cannot. That’s why sexual promiscuity is only acceptable among males.</p>