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Another reason why sexual reproduction is efficient is that it enables division of labour. A mother needs to provide a complete eco-system (uterus) for the bab
by dmichulke 11y ago
Another reason why sexual reproduction is efficient is that it enables division of labour.
A mother needs to provide a complete eco-system (uterus) for the baby to live and grow which affects even the hormonal system.
A man doesn't need this, so he can use this energy or "program space" in his genome for other things.
It's one of Dawkins theses in his superb book "The selfish gene" [1] where he basically reduces evolution to game theory (without explicity saying so).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene
- Cthulhu_ 11y agoThat extends to the genders' respective role in society as well, at least in humans - men being the hunters or soldiers and dying a lot, that is. On the other hand though, in e.g. lions, it's the females that go out hunting the most. I'm not sure what the logic is there. Maybe the males die a lot in fights for dominance and territory so they get to be lazy?
- juliendorra 11y agoUp until recently, women died a lot… giving birth. (It really comes to life when you read about history and queens or the classic plays and fairytales where there's so many remarried older men)
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dmichulke 11y agoMaybe the lion case is also a "social effect" since a male lion is either completely alone or he is the leader of a pack of not so few females + cubs. I suppose the lone lions hunt for themselves (and you probably didn't count those) while the leader of a pack doesn't need to because he is the respected, well, leader.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoIt's almost as if these "just-so" stories don't have any actual predictive power.