So, I’d been thinking about making a thread for my own and other’s general science nerdlingering, then I got snowed under at work (literally and figuratively) and it didn’t happen. Now I’m procrastinating so it happened.
Feel free to add any science nerd content/musing/rantings you want.
Yes science includes evolutionary biology and a lot of what I have to say is based on the theory of evolution. I DON’T INTEND TO DEBATE SCIENCE VS RELIGION AGAIN. Make a new thread or dig up an old one for that if it's what you want to do.
Now that’s said;
I’d been considering the fact that when apparently stupid people procreate/exist, it’s sometimes stated it contradicts natural selection. Thinking about it, people of higher than average intellect/ education are - at least in my anecdotal experience - more likely than average to not have children or have fewer than average children later in life.
It logically follows that humans of above average intellect contribute a lower percentage to the proceeding generation and therefore intelligence is actually selected against.
The counter to this is of course resource allocation and survivorship of offspring – a person of higher intelligence is more likely than average to procure a higher level of resources with which to raise offspring and thus more likely than average to successfully raise their fewer number of offspring to breeding age. Conversely, a person of lower intellect is less likely to have adequate resources to raise a high number of offspring ad thus if they have a large number, more are likely to suffer mortality before breeding age is reached, thus leveling the genetic input of high and low intelligence to the next generation.
Interestingly, in the current welfare state, if you have more offspring than you are capable of supporting the general populous will pool resources and provide for a parent’s potential failure to adequately allocate resources to their offspring. Therefore by ensuring the survivorship of all humans in a welfare state, you potentially tip the balance of selection against above average intellect/the breeding strategy of low output and high investment.
Without opening the ethical can of worms that is the removal of welfare and the starvation of people who we can otherwise afford to feed, it is interesting to note how recognition of basic human rights affects natural selection on the human populous.
Feel free to add any science nerd content/musing/rantings you want.
Yes science includes evolutionary biology and a lot of what I have to say is based on the theory of evolution. I DON’T INTEND TO DEBATE SCIENCE VS RELIGION AGAIN. Make a new thread or dig up an old one for that if it's what you want to do.
Now that’s said;
I’d been considering the fact that when apparently stupid people procreate/exist, it’s sometimes stated it contradicts natural selection. Thinking about it, people of higher than average intellect/ education are - at least in my anecdotal experience - more likely than average to not have children or have fewer than average children later in life.
It logically follows that humans of above average intellect contribute a lower percentage to the proceeding generation and therefore intelligence is actually selected against.
The counter to this is of course resource allocation and survivorship of offspring – a person of higher intelligence is more likely than average to procure a higher level of resources with which to raise offspring and thus more likely than average to successfully raise their fewer number of offspring to breeding age. Conversely, a person of lower intellect is less likely to have adequate resources to raise a high number of offspring ad thus if they have a large number, more are likely to suffer mortality before breeding age is reached, thus leveling the genetic input of high and low intelligence to the next generation.
Interestingly, in the current welfare state, if you have more offspring than you are capable of supporting the general populous will pool resources and provide for a parent’s potential failure to adequately allocate resources to their offspring. Therefore by ensuring the survivorship of all humans in a welfare state, you potentially tip the balance of selection against above average intellect/the breeding strategy of low output and high investment.
Without opening the ethical can of worms that is the removal of welfare and the starvation of people who we can otherwise afford to feed, it is interesting to note how recognition of basic human rights affects natural selection on the human populous.