Tuesday, September 09, 2003

The evolutionary impetus to be dissatisfied

Males are largely motivated by the evolutionary impetus to spread their seed around to as many fertile females as possible. That's how they maximize their reproductive success. Females are impelled to carefully make a nest or safe haven in which to raise their more limited number of eggs. That's how they maximize their evolutionary success. No news here. Human evolutionary ecology has been saying this for years (and it was probably understood soon after Darwin...God knew it long before that of course).

What occurred to me this morning is that it is also good evolutionary strategy for the individual to never be satisfied with what they have, and that the individual sets the bar based on what is available in the environment. That means a man on the Island of Ugly Women or in the Playboy Mansion will always want the cutest one(s) and wish that they were cuter. That also means that the woman with the best husband and biggest house in the neighborhood (city, state, universe, etc.), will always want a better one.

All things being equal however, it's better to be the best husband in a pool of poor ones or the cutest wife in pool of hags. But it's guaranteed that your mate will wish you were better. It's in their nature.

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