Re: Human faithfullness [was Re: Fwd: Lanier essay of 2001.12.04]

From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sun Dec 09 2001 - 23:05:57 MST


"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:

> On Sat, 8 Dec 2001, Spike Jones, commenting on Damien's comment
> about jealousy wrote:
>
> > [snip] I have a hard time imagining a stable society in which most
> > of the copulation took place in anything other than practical monogamy.
>
> Scientists have studied this. You should read a book like "The Red
> Queen"....I always solved the concept of jealousy and faithfulness by
> informing girlfriends I would simply determine whether or not
> a child was mine. That approach rationalizes jealousy very
> quickly. Robert

Forgive me for being slow to comment on a thread I generated.
I crashed my antique motorcycle a couple months ago, recently
got the parts to fix it from an internet group. Most of my spare
time has gone into fixing the damage. Today shes ready to ride.

Your comments regarding monogamy are in good agreement
with Miller's The Mating Mind and also the excellent The Evolution
of Desire.

You know I have not a religious bone in my body, but do let me
speak up for the joy of monogamy, even from a male perspective.
I recognize the effectiveness of spreading one's DNA by mating
widely, however I also recognize the fact that in a sense, I as
a human mind am at cross purposes with my own DNA. I think
of myself as a set of memes, not a set of genes. spike



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