3 ms·

Isn't all human behavior is a product of evolution by definition? Humans like to explore because it can improve their mating chances due to prestige, wealth, l

Isn't all human behavior is a product of evolution by definition? Humans like to explore because it can improve their mating chances due to prestige, wealth, less competitation (those unsuccessful thin the pack) hence people went to the moon. I'm not trying to be a troll, but how can we have behavior that wasn't caused by evolution?

jibiki 17y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) Not contradicting you, just saying there are shades of nuance to the verb "to cause".
ellyagg 17y ago
Sure, any behavior is going to be a product of evolution and environment. Of course, sex is actually the mechanism of evolution, so it's doubtful that pretending behaviors associated with it are not strongly related to it will yield sensible results.
berntb 17y ago
>>I'm not trying to be a troll, but how can we have behavior that wasn't caused by evolution? We are genetically programmed (from evolution) to get most of our behavior from culture. That is what evolutionary biologists (and evolutionary psychologists) say, afaik. So lots of behavior is based on evolution, by way of cultural evolution. (Then there is random noise etc.) Edit: I might add that I believe the book about rape wasn't exactly seen as the best of research in the evol psychology area... But I've also seen lots of ideologically motivated (marxists and religious) attacks on evol psych.
sethg 17y ago
If I eat soup with a spoon rather than a fork, does that prove that I have an eating-soup-with-a-spoon gene that was passed down to me by my Pleistocene ancestors, while carriers of the competing eating-soup-with-a-fork gene died of thirst? Obviously there are some aspects of human behavior that were probably selected for in a Darwinian fashion; it's probably no accident that most humans prefer not to live a celibate life, for example. But that doesn't mean you can trace the link from every behavior back to some genetic root.

jibiki 17y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) Not contradicting you, just saying there are shades of nuance to the verb "to cause".

ellyagg 17y ago

Sure, any behavior is going to be a product of evolution and environment. Of course, sex is actually the mechanism of evolution, so it's doubtful that pretending behaviors associated with it are not strongly related to it will yield sensible results.

berntb 17y ago

>>I'm not trying to be a troll, but how can we have behavior that wasn't caused by evolution? We are genetically programmed (from evolution) to get most of our behavior from culture. That is what evolutionary biologists (and evolutionary psychologists) say, afaik. So lots of behavior is based on evolution, by way of cultural evolution. (Then there is random noise etc.) Edit: I might add that I believe the book about rape wasn't exactly seen as the best of research in the evol psychology area... But I've also seen lots of ideologically motivated (marxists and religious) attacks on evol psych.

sethg 17y ago

If I eat soup with a spoon rather than a fork, does that prove that I have an eating-soup-with-a-spoon gene that was passed down to me by my Pleistocene ancestors, while carriers of the competing eating-soup-with-a-fork gene died of thirst? Obviously there are some aspects of human behavior that were probably selected for in a Darwinian fashion; it's probably no accident that most humans prefer not to live a celibate life, for example. But that doesn't mean you can trace the link from every behavior back to some genetic root.