Sexual selection dysfunction

In m'boy Charlie Darwin's The Descent of Man he gives an evolutionary explanation for many human behavioural traits including morality, religion and philanthropy. But there are other traits that can't be accounted for because they would not increase an organism's chance of survival. Such as, why are humans so intelligent? There's no evolutionary reason for us to be able to do philosophy and astrophysics. The answer to that, of course, is that intelligence affects sexual selection. That means that someone would be more attractive to members of the opposite sex and increase the chance of reproduction if they have those characteristics. I found that funny because I know many, many philosophers and a few astrophysicists and I've never felt biologically compelled to mate with them.

And on this topic, I've started to watch Beauty and the Geek on the GREATEST WEBSITE EVER. I usually stay away from reality shows but some students were talking about it in the office the other day and I just had to check out this "social experiment". It's actually pretty entertaining, but it bugs me because the show is making these "geeks" out to be the smartest guys ever, and they're not! They're dorks. One of the guys who graduated from Harvard is now working as a receptionist. There's only one person who is getting a PhD, and he's dropped out of grad school! A couple are smart, but most aren't. I could deal with all that if they didn't make these guys out to seem like Einstein, Newton and Hawking rolled up in one. They're really not that smart. At one point, one of the contestants said that "The guys in this room could map out the entire human genome." GMAFB!! The dweeby little tax accountant could barely complete a crossword puzzle. And the kicker is that the "dizzy" girls aren't even so dumb. Most of them have university degrees and have jobs comparable to many of the guys.

The show is still worth watching though. I think my favourite moment was when one of the contestants found out what "booty" was. He used to think that it was a pirate's treasure until his female partner set him straight. After he went around to the other Geeks to let them know what he learned, he says to the camera: "A lot of things started clearing up, because I'm a big rap fan." You can see the clip here but don't blame me if you got hooked...

(By the way, I totally stole this post's title from another student who wanted to use it for her disseration, but her supervisor wouldn't let her. I think it's awesome.)