funnymouth
Active member
this kind of behavior is fairly frequent in the animal kingdom, but he has no evidence, just wild speculation (anecdotal evidence = not evidence). oh, and the link to intelligence? since when do you have to be smart to be a cheating bastard? that bit is complete bull. complete.
that being said:
1) it has been shown (through rigorous science) that their are genetic (and environmental) factors to behavior - and, we are animals.
2) there is an evolutionary advantage to reproducing with multiple partners, frequently :].
in fact, behavioral genetics is its own, well respected field, also known as ethology (welllll similar to). ethology is the idea that the fundementals of behavior lie in the way genes have been modified throughought evolution to adapt to environmental conditions. lorenz did some remarkable work in this field in the 1930\'s and 40\'s (before they knew about DNA). modern research in the field has demonstrated that behavior can indeed be quite complex, and is not universal in any sense. in some cases it can be an interaction between learning and genetics, in others behavioral petterns can be fixed and heritable (there are some great examples of this). if you would like to read up on it a bit i found a decent (albeit hokey) summary (start about halfway through).
http://www.grandin.com/references/genetics.html
in principle, though, i dont see why it would be any different in humans - our genetic factors determine transcriptional rates of neurotrasmitters through complex cascades of promoters and inhibitors - they construct the system so are obveously going to effect the way in which it functions. evidence of this is easy to see in any number of treatable mental illnesses/ addictions that are common place.
careful though: im not argueing nature over nurture: keep in mind that the capacity to be flexible, to learn, can be (and from my perspective, invariably is) genetic as well.
that being said:
1) it has been shown (through rigorous science) that their are genetic (and environmental) factors to behavior - and, we are animals.
2) there is an evolutionary advantage to reproducing with multiple partners, frequently :].
in fact, behavioral genetics is its own, well respected field, also known as ethology (welllll similar to). ethology is the idea that the fundementals of behavior lie in the way genes have been modified throughought evolution to adapt to environmental conditions. lorenz did some remarkable work in this field in the 1930\'s and 40\'s (before they knew about DNA). modern research in the field has demonstrated that behavior can indeed be quite complex, and is not universal in any sense. in some cases it can be an interaction between learning and genetics, in others behavioral petterns can be fixed and heritable (there are some great examples of this). if you would like to read up on it a bit i found a decent (albeit hokey) summary (start about halfway through).
http://www.grandin.com/references/genetics.html
in principle, though, i dont see why it would be any different in humans - our genetic factors determine transcriptional rates of neurotrasmitters through complex cascades of promoters and inhibitors - they construct the system so are obveously going to effect the way in which it functions. evidence of this is easy to see in any number of treatable mental illnesses/ addictions that are common place.
careful though: im not argueing nature over nurture: keep in mind that the capacity to be flexible, to learn, can be (and from my perspective, invariably is) genetic as well.
