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If you guys are interested in this stuff, I highly recommend "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley.

http://amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/006055...

⬐ peter303

Bryan Sykes has written a series of popular science books about these kinds of genetic discoveries. Very interesting.

⬐ ardit33

This is a great passage from the Red Queen, that might explain what was happening at the time:

In the ancient empire of the Incas, sex was a heavily regulated industry. The sun-king Atahualpa kept fifteen hundred women in each of many “houses of virgins” throughout his kingdom. They were selected for their beauty and were rarely chosen after the age of eight—to ensure their virginity. But they did not all remain virgins for long: They were the emperor’s concubines. Beneath him, each rank of society afforded a harem of a particular legal size. Great lords had harems of more than seven hundred women. “Principal persons” were allowed fifty women; leaders of vassal nations, thirty; heads of provinces of 100,000 people, twenty; leaders of 1,000 people, fifteen; administrators of 500 people, twelve; governors of 100 people, eight; petty chiefs over 50 men, seven; chiefs of 10 men, five; chiefs of 5 men, three. That left precious few for the average male Indian whose enforced near-celibacy must have driven him to desperate acts, a fact attested to by the severity of the penalties that followed any cuckolding of his seniors. If a man violated one of Atahualpa’s women, he, his wife, his children, his relatives, his servants, his fellow villagers, and all his lamas would be put to death, the village would be destroyed, and the site strewn with stones. As a result, Atahualpa and his nobles had, shall we say, a majority holding in the paternity of the next generation. They systematically dispossessed less privileged men of their genetic share of posterity. Many of the Inca people were the children of powerful men. In the kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa, all women were at the pleasure of the king. Thousands of them were kept in the royal harem for his use, and the remainder he suffered to “marry” the more favored of his subjects. The result was that Dahomean kings were very fecund, while ordinary Dahomean men were often celibate and barren. In the city of Abomey, according to one nineteenth-century visitor, “it would be difficult to find Dahomeans who were not descended from royalty.” The connection between sex and power is a long one.

⬐ swagasaurus-rex

Killing the llamas is one step too far.

⬐ clarky07

I came here to say "Not the llamas!"

⬐ ionwake

Thanks for a good laugh

⬐ brc

In those times, they really wanted to get the point across.

⬐ littletimmy

If wealth keeps getting concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, coupled with the sexual liberation of women, perhaps we'll see something like this again. 1% of the men enjoying 99% of procreation.

⬐ dropit_sphere

Doubtful. Child support means that if wealth is used for procreation, it will diffuse.

⬐ mhuffman

Child support is a very small part of a rich man's wealth. It will not diffuse in any noticeable way.

⬐ dropit_sphere

Yes, you're right; I should have included alimony.

⬐ beachstartup

this theory doesn't make sense, because sexually liberated women are fucking/procreating with losers and deadbeats at just as high a rate or even higher than with wealthy guys. they are also divorcing their wealthy husbands and taking a boatload of cash for themselves.

in fact, a lot of seriously rich guys are sexually frustrated. modern society is not ancient incan feudalism, and it doesn't follow the same rules as 1950s western society either. it's unique.

I disagree. The amount of DNA you have will affect the rate of mutation. Mutations are mostly a bad thing, however, in an environment where a species must constantly create defenses against parasites or disease, it's important to mutate new defenses. As a result, in a low disease/parasite environment it makes sense to get rid of "junk dna" to reduce the rate of mutation, while in a high disease/parasite environment it makes sense to increase "junk dna" to increase it.

Red Queen is a good read on this topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen_hypothesis

http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Queen-Evolution-Nature/dp/0060...

I'm not the OP, and I haven't read these books, but many people swear by:

Influence: the psychology of persuasion, by Robert Cialdini

http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Busine...

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/00...

One I HAVE read, and I strongly recommend is How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influenc...

Also, I've read many people mention a lot about Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I'm usually skeptical of this stuff, but I want to read about it.

I did read "The Game" by Neil Strauss... while it is not something I want to do, it is really intriguing, and he advocates NLP a lot in that book.

And while I'm nerdish/socially awkward, I have a long-term relationship with my girlfriend so I don't "need" to go picking up girls :) .

I look forward to the original poster's list :)

It does imply that. I know a lot of guys who have gone through a period in their life not being able to sympathize with women after learning about this. They would question why even bothering marrying a woman if she is just going to be a cheating whore?

The second point you make is very interesting and I have the perfect rebuttal. Unfortunately I don't have the book with me right now but a quote from a review on Amazon will suffice:

"And on pages 217-218 [Matt Ridley] explains why women cuckold their mates: "This is because her husband is, almost by definition, usually not the best male there is-else how would he have ended up married to her?" She wants the parental care of her husband and some other man's superior-she thinks-genes."

Here is the link to this book (one of the best I've read): http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Queen-Evolution-Nature/dp/0060...

And although I haven't read this book (if you do, tell me what you think), I know that it talks more about how x% of children are not genetically related to their fathers: http://www.amazon.com/Sperm-Wars-Infidelity-Conflict-Bedroom...

An ad hominem attack with a dash of appeal to authority...enlightening. If you require proof of sexuality's impact on human behavior, I recommend reviewing the extant literature. Here are some examples:

1. http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/00...

2. http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Animal-Science-Evolutionary-Psyc...

1) I'm not seeing any discussion of group survival. At an individual level, a lot of human behavior can look counterproductive, but makes sense at the group sense. If a genetic line evolves to support other members of the same (or similar) line, then that line as a whole has a better chance of lasting.

2) If anyone's interested in longer discussions of these (and they are interesting):

- _The_Red_Queen_ (why we sleep around) http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/00...

- _The_Dark_Side_Of_Man_ (why we rape, kill) http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Man-Michael-Ghiglieri/dp/073...

Note that the 2nd tries to make political/policy conclusions which IMHO don't hold up. However, the scientific work in the text is pretty enjoyable.