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JUL 13, 2007 01:53 PM
JUL 25, 2007 10:28 AM
JUL 26, 2007 02:25 AM
herbancowboy said:
Bump. Check out this short article.
"Because children take so long to raise, men inherited two needs," Quirk says. "They need to impregnate a fertile body. And they need a good mother to raise the result. These are separable needs." Male wiring reasons: "Just because I invest my love and labor in one woman to make sure our offspring survive doesn't mean I don't have spare sperm. Can't hurt to toss a couple extra out there and see if they take. Some of my ancestors succeeded at the fathering strategy. Some succeeded at the fornicating strategy. They've passed on their desires to me."
It's the same for women, more or less. "Because children take so long to raise, women inherited two needs," Quirk says. "They need a good nest to raise the healthy baby. They need good genes to raise the healthy baby. The best nest might come from your husband. The best genes might come from somebody else's husband. It's hard to get both in the same guy."
So what you're basically saying is this:
The need to seed is why he did the deed, right? 
Human nature is to fornicate. It doesn't matter how or who we do it with so long as we can do it. We've since learned the consequences of such actions (population growth, society, civilization, laws and government, war...) Try as we might to outsmart ourselves by either confining fornication (sometimes by law, sometimes by societal mores), not everyone (most?) can defeat our hormonal nature. Interestingly enough (and here's the wild card), we also have developed a capacity for empathy and emotional attachment (possessiveness) over others and will go ape shit when we're cheated on...
Amazingly, mate preference periodically fluctuates and goes through cycles. A female is most attracted (visually) to a mate that is similar in appearance to her father, however will prefer a very different (bad boy?) mate depending on how fertile she is (the secret behind why opposites attract). Once pregnant, the "bad boy" quickly becomes a loser (likely behaving as such) and is unwanted and alien (it actually has something to do with pheromones) and will prefer familial (family) relations (perhaps as a protective and secure environment)... It seems during our evolution, we've developed multiple mating and behavioral strategies to increase the chances of producing offspring (both within genetic bloodlines and also with more variation, outside familial bloodlines). Funny creatures, aren't we? Who are we to deny our nature, we think we're so smart but a solid half of marriages (in the U.S.) will end in divorce. Anyone want to marry me? (I could do with some sex).
Maybe we've all got it wrong and should take our cues from the Bonobo Chimps of Africa. They literally "make love, not war". Everyone of all ages, all the time (except mothers and sons, smart they don't inbreed). They do this partly as a form of conflict resolution, partly because it's fun. Could you imagine politics if we borrowed this trait, aping nature as it were? Then we would expect everyone in Washington to be in bed with one another!
NickFaust
USA
April 2004
JUL 07, 2007 11:10 AM