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San Francisco, 2:28 AM
Thu Dec 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours

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12/08/09
Are we talking physical, mental, social, or emotional fitness? Surely there is more to fitness than simply fecundity.
Also, is it possible that there's a downside to having too healthy or too fit a population? (over-population / over-consumption of resources; over-specialization, etc.)?
I'm not well versed in biology, but it just seems like any concept of fitness is highly dependent on the environmental context an organism finds itself in.
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...
An animal capable of LOVE.
#biology
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12/09/09
Like in the original post, what qualifies as "fitness"?
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12/08/09
"Can't, I have a morning meeting."
"2018?"
"Well, I'm supposed to have a luncheon that afternoon, but I suppose it can be rescheduled."
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12/08/09
The Earth is full of water, which is important since when you party hard you need to keep yourself hydrated.
The Moon is made of cheese, and Mars is red line wine. Cheese and wine go well in parties.
Then, of course, you need music and, to be in style, you can choose old 45-rpm records, just like the rings of Saturn.
And, in case there are minors in the party who need someone to keep an eye on them, there's always papa Jupiter with its Red Eye a couple of astronomical units away.
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12/08/09
If only you knew how true that is...
A few years ago I wrote my own version of Darwin's theory of evolution, which I called the Theory Of Revolution. You can read it here, if you're interested:
[blogs.suntimes.com]
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12/08/09
I think Martian cow steak tastes like everything else, ie, just like chicken.
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12/08/09
Ha.
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12/08/09
Evolution's going to kill me
I'm a hot female you know what I mean
And I shake my big abs on the flyscape
Yeah on the flyscape on the flyscape yeah
I shake my big abs on the flyscape
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12/08/09
Not that I would ever associate with such women. No, siree.
12/08/09
Very true, the waist-hip ratio is very important. Always gets me noticing. A good waist-hip ratio is like pheromones ..
for humanity it's always about wanting something different, fitness isn't even on the radar anymore.
So true, could attraction to 'different' be nature's way of mixing up the gene pool? Actually what am I saying, it probably is.
But fitness should be on the radar, and probably is.
12/08/09
We may have abandoned our instinctual criteria for fitness long ago, but that doesn't mean we're suddenly exempt.
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12/08/09
This incidentally is why I have no problem with any future widespread genetic manipulation. Even if it is privileged to f.ex wealthy, white Westerners, at least it's throwing some progress out there to disseminate.
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12/08/09
Tristan A. F. Long, one of the authors of the study, said:
[...] there may be negative consequences to the species' ability to adaptively evolve."
I am not a professional biologist, but I believe I understand enough of evolutionary biology to find the statements above not to be entirely correct.
As I understand, one of the most important requirements for a gene pool to produce individuals that adapt easily to changes in their environment is genetic diversity.
And that's exactly what the fruitfly male behavior achieves. By harassing the bigger and more fecund females, giving a chance to the lesser fit fenales to mate equally as frequently or to produce as many offsprings as the better fit females, the males are guaranteeing an influx of diversity in the population gene pool.
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12/08/09
Also the evolutionary cost of male mate preference would seem to prevent sexual selection driving highly maladaptive traits (like peacock feathers.)
12/08/09
"any good traits they have won't spread through the population quickly"
True, but consider the alternative. If the males predominantly mated with the fitter females, the genetic pool would fairly quickly be "locked-in" with the traits that are beneficial to the current environment. If a significant change were to happen, the entire species would be ill-prepared to deal with it.
A better strategy is to compromise, ie, to forgo consistently fit individuals in favor of individuals that are more diverse, thereby guaranteeing the survival of the species under a variety of environmental changes.
Having said all that, I'll reiterate that I'm no expert and may be completely wrong. Also, I have not yet read the linked article. I'm kinda busy at the moment, so I'm flying solo on this one.
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12/08/09
LOL! Same here.
"A better strategy is to compromise, ie, to forgo consistently fit individuals in favor of individuals that are more diverse"
If only danish women subscribed to the same strategy, 'cause I'm not exactly the fittest male around here (or anywhere else, for that matter).
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Rock me Dr. Zaius.