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Nobody chooses who to reproduce with for purely sexual reasons. We choose who to have kids with based on a very complicated array of factors like who the person

Nobody chooses who to reproduce with for purely sexual reasons. We choose who to have kids with based on a very complicated array of factors like who the person is, what they do, how much they earn, is there good chemistry and of course also physical appearances. Human evolution seems to no longer be driven by nature, but I don’t think it’s true to say selection is purely sexual in the modern world. The term “agency” from the article best describes it I think. In essence humans are now self-selecting the path of their evolution through conscious agency. Pretty trippy to think about actually

toomuchtodo 9y ago
> Nobody chooses who to reproduce with for purely sexual reasons. People are most definitely making mate selections (at least on Tinder) on physical attractiveness, primarily. We won't even scratch the surface of the argument that prettier people have it easier in life for this thread's purposes. "This study was conducted to quantify the Tinder socio-economic prospects for males based on the percentage of females that will “like” them. Female Tinder usage data was collected and statistically analyzed to determine the inequality in the Tinder economy. It was determined that the bottom 80% of men (in terms of attractiveness) are competing for the bottom 22% of women and the top 78% of women are competing for the top 20% of men. The Gini coefficient for the Tinder economy based on “like” percentages was calculated to be 0.58. This means that the Tinder economy has more inequality than 95.1% of all the world’s national economies. In addition, it was determined that a man of average attractiveness would be “liked” by approximately 0.87% (1 in 115) of women on Tinder." https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-guys-unless-you-are-really-hot-you-are-probably-better-off-not-wasting-your-2ddf370a6e9a#.u9kjjrno3 https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-g... (emphasis above sourced from Medium highlights) EDIT: HN throttling kicked in, can't reply to replies to this: My personal opinion (insert enormous disclaimer here) is that Tinder is providing the illusion of choice (hundreds, thousands of profiles you can swipe through in an hour) and higher "quality" (top percentiles of both sexes shown to everyone) that is not within the grasp of most users. I don't want the Whole Foods/Amazon of dating apps, I want the Aldi: average looking people who are decent human beings who share an interest or two with me.
- barrkel 9y ago
  There's very little signal on Tinder apart from image, as I understand it (I've never used it). If all you have is one signal, it'll naturally acquire lots of importance. Similarly people who want more information will be less inclined to use the platform.
  - rokhayakebe 9y ago
    If all you have is one signal, it'll naturally acquire lots of importance This is it. Tinder users only have two or three criteria: Photo, Location, Profession (PhoLoPro). One cannot blame women for choosing the financially stable and handsome men or blame men for going for the pretty and close women. This is all they can choose from. If you are going to play the Tinder game you have to abide by the rules; Men: Be handsome & seemingly stable and don't be not handsome and seemingly unstable. Women: Be attractive (whatever that means) and don t be unattractive.
    - ryandrake 9y ago
      You've pretty much described the dating/hookup scene outside of Tinder as well. Funny how technology changes nothing.
      - creaghpatr 9y ago
        technology scales and/or amplifies the effects
      - dv_dt 9y ago
        Well in Tinders case, you've eliminated factors such as voice or smell or, I don't know, dance ability or interactions with others, etc.
      - rokhayakebe 9y ago
        Not as much. Outside of Tinder men have a range of other attributes that can help them: personality, timing, etc... Looks matter a lot more on Tinder for men than in real life. Maybe the same is true for women, I haven't asked.
taco_emoji 9y ago
> I don’t think it’s true to say selection is purely sexual in the modern world I admit I skimmed the OP, but I didn't see the writer (of either book or the review) actually arguing for that at all, just that it's a piece of the puzzle.
EpicEng 9y ago
You assume that the majority of pregnancies are planned. I highly doubt that is the case.
- ksk 9y ago
  What is your doubt based upon?
  - pc86 9y ago
    Google it. Just about every source puts it at 50-55% of all pregnancies being unplanned.
    - ams6110 9y ago
      Depends highly on socioeconomic factors I would think. I would expect much higher unplanned pregnancies in the lower income brackets than upper, because a consequence of being poor is a focus on immediate needs and little thought for the future. But for sure it happens across the board and probably more than most people think.
    - marcell 9y ago
      Would be interesting to see that broken down by first vs. second or later. I imagine there are a lot of married couples with 1 or 2 kids that have an unplanned pregnancy, but that's not quite the same as a teenage couple.
- omarforgotpwd 9y ago
  Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, the two people chose to have sex for a complex set of factors, only one of which was attractiveness or prettiness, which by itself is very subjective and relative.
  - owebmaster 9y ago
    > Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, the two people chose to have sex for a complex set of factors Or just alcohol?

toomuchtodo 9y ago

> Nobody chooses who to reproduce with for purely sexual reasons. People are most definitely making mate selections (at least on Tinder) on physical attractiveness, primarily. We won't even scratch the surface of the argument that prettier people have it easier in life for this thread's purposes. "This study was conducted to quantify the Tinder socio-economic prospects for males based on the percentage of females that will “like” them. Female Tinder usage data was collected and statistically analyzed to determine the inequality in the Tinder economy. It was determined that the bottom 80% of men (in terms of attractiveness) are competing for the bottom 22% of women and the top 78% of women are competing for the top 20% of men. The Gini coefficient for the Tinder economy based on “like” percentages was calculated to be 0.58. This means that the Tinder economy has more inequality than 95.1% of all the world’s national economies. In addition, it was determined that a man of average attractiveness would be “liked” by approximately 0.87% (1 in 115) of women on Tinder." https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-guys-unless-you-are-really-hot-you-are-probably-better-off-not-wasting-your-2ddf370a6e9a#.u9kjjrno3 https://medium.com/@worstonlinedater/tinder-experiments-ii-g... (emphasis above sourced from Medium highlights) EDIT: HN throttling kicked in, can't reply to replies to this: My personal opinion (insert enormous disclaimer here) is that Tinder is providing the illusion of choice (hundreds, thousands of profiles you can swipe through in an hour) and higher "quality" (top percentiles of both sexes shown to everyone) that is not within the grasp of most users. I don't want the Whole Foods/Amazon of dating apps, I want the Aldi: average looking people who are decent human beings who share an interest or two with me.

barrkel 9y ago
There's very little signal on Tinder apart from image, as I understand it (I've never used it). If all you have is one signal, it'll naturally acquire lots of importance. Similarly people who want more information will be less inclined to use the platform.
- rokhayakebe 9y ago
  If all you have is one signal, it'll naturally acquire lots of importance This is it. Tinder users only have two or three criteria: Photo, Location, Profession (PhoLoPro). One cannot blame women for choosing the financially stable and handsome men or blame men for going for the pretty and close women. This is all they can choose from. If you are going to play the Tinder game you have to abide by the rules; Men: Be handsome & seemingly stable and don't be not handsome and seemingly unstable. Women: Be attractive (whatever that means) and don t be unattractive.
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    You've pretty much described the dating/hookup scene outside of Tinder as well. Funny how technology changes nothing.
    - creaghpatr 9y ago
      technology scales and/or amplifies the effects
    - dv_dt 9y ago
      Well in Tinders case, you've eliminated factors such as voice or smell or, I don't know, dance ability or interactions with others, etc.
    - rokhayakebe 9y ago
      Not as much. Outside of Tinder men have a range of other attributes that can help them: personality, timing, etc... Looks matter a lot more on Tinder for men than in real life. Maybe the same is true for women, I haven't asked.

taco_emoji 9y ago

> I don’t think it’s true to say selection is purely sexual in the modern world I admit I skimmed the OP, but I didn't see the writer (of either book or the review) actually arguing for that at all, just that it's a piece of the puzzle.

EpicEng 9y ago

You assume that the majority of pregnancies are planned. I highly doubt that is the case.

ksk 9y ago
What is your doubt based upon?
- pc86 9y ago
  Google it. Just about every source puts it at 50-55% of all pregnancies being unplanned.
  - ams6110 9y ago
    Depends highly on socioeconomic factors I would think. I would expect much higher unplanned pregnancies in the lower income brackets than upper, because a consequence of being poor is a focus on immediate needs and little thought for the future. But for sure it happens across the board and probably more than most people think.
  - marcell 9y ago
    Would be interesting to see that broken down by first vs. second or later. I imagine there are a lot of married couples with 1 or 2 kids that have an unplanned pregnancy, but that's not quite the same as a teenage couple.
omarforgotpwd 9y ago
Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, the two people chose to have sex for a complex set of factors, only one of which was attractiveness or prettiness, which by itself is very subjective and relative.
- owebmaster 9y ago
  > Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, the two people chose to have sex for a complex set of factors Or just alcohol?