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Historically, the typical male had 0 offspring while a minority had many (this was not the case for females). When your median evolutionary outcome is atrocious
by highfrequency 4y ago
Historically, the typical male had 0 offspring while a minority had many (this was not the case for females). When your median evolutionary outcome is atrocious, you will evolve toward high variance behavior like venturing away from the tribe to explore foreign places.
This leads to a higher fraction of male fossils because the preservation of remains is a very unlikely event requiring unusual conditions.
"These male mammoths—young, reckless, foolhardy—were just more likely to get into some kind of trouble and die, from getting stuck in a pit to running afoul of hunting humans. Luckily for paleontologists, some of these death sites—bogs, crevices, lakes—are pretty good at preserving remains. 'They were more likely to do silly things, like die in tar pits,' Gower says."
- jvanderbot 4y ago"Is there anything good about men?" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8765372-is-there-anything-good-about-men https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8765372-is-there-anythin... Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YHdl4FXYpU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YHdl4FXYpU Lecture text: https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Is-There-Anything-Good-About-Men.pdf https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Is-There-Any... Therein you'll find this argument applied to humans, as well. It's fairly informative and rigorous (mostly). Good read, even if you disagree with the whole premise. > "I’m certainly not denying that culture has exploited women. But rather than seeing culture as patriarchy, which is to say a conspiracy by men to exploit women, I think it’s more accurate to understand culture (e.g., a country, a religion) as an abstract system that competes against rival systems — and that uses both men and women, often in different ways, to advance its cause."