Evolution Accelerated

At one point I said “don’t worry, give up control, all will be ok”.  Recently I realized that I was making a major assumption: that evolution has lead us to a certain stable state…  And then I started looking back at my life: I’ve met absolutely amazing women and yet I am not even close to starting a family and, if I am to be honest with myself, I am the cause. And then I recalled how I heard the argument that “evolution is over”: progress in medicine means no more natural selection.  Except, if evolution has reached a plateau and I am not just a glial/expendable member of the gene pool, yet I am still single and grandma’s giving up hope on great-grandkids, what’s going on?

Musings: I am a Dumbass

Yay! Time to change the header.  Theme of the day, I am a dumbass.  Don’t ask. Those who know me well, already know what’s up.  Those who don’t know me, if you think, you can make an educated guess and you’ll probably be right.

Evolution of Thought

So evolution of physical characteristics is evident.  I have bigger muscles, I kick ass, I procreate and you don’t.  So Sit. Your. Ass. Down.

Then we move to behavior.  Things are still simple.  Girls say “I want a nice guy.”  Bullshit.  Girls want an alpha-male.  Alpha male who will provide.  So, as a friend of mine recently suggested “If I go for the kill, they like it!  If I try to do the right thing – like act out proper dating courtship, it fizzles.”  There are many hypotheses as to why this is so, but, the dry remains are: those who are more aggressive procreate and those who are not…  well…

So far so good.  Behavior, physical characteristics – everybody nods.

But recently I’ve come to realize that may be I am not as independent thinker as I would like to consider myself.

Consider two scenarios:

Scenario 1 – intellectual territorially competitive co-existence.  Suppose that A meets B.  After some time A doesn’t feel like B is an ideal mate.  Well, if they keep talking, figuring things out, etc. then they end up staying together until after both A and B can produce offspring.  Moreover, because they are territorial, they prevent each other from getting mates.

Scenario 2 – emotional turmoil.  Now suppose that when A and B end up mismatched, there is emotional turmoil, problematic behavior, etc.  Then they break up completely, start afresh, find another potential mate and procreate.

Who wins?  Scenario 2.  So I’ve been programmed by evolution to be in pain and anguish when presented with a situation/relationship when thing are not perfect with a female companion.  Evolution.

But wait!  There is more!  Call now and you’ll be saved!

No, really, there is:

Scenario 3 – collective development.  Notice that now the idea of “unit” is becoming obsolete.  There are very few marriages and a very large number of 20 and 30 year old singles of both sexes.  Now this is natural, but then would it not be optimal for them never to latch on to each other completely, but also to never completely disengage?  Then we turn into a tribe.

So, from an evolutionary point of view, are we moving towards collective intellectual co-existence?  Or was I wired by evolution to come up with this argument to spread my seed with as many women as possible?

Nikita’s LJ Tags: Sex, Evolution, Musings