Theme: Agency

In my work, I assume that very little genetic ‘evolution’ occurs at all. And that instead, humans possess an extraordinary ability to express multiple evolutionary strategies in response to changes, pressures, and shocks. We can call upon an amazing wealth of genetic expression of ability if we need to. And it can occur rapidly by institutional and status shifts, or slowly over centuries. So I see our genes as an inventory of expressible biases that in combinations produce very different divisions of perception, cognition, knowledge and labor. From the effeminate Ashkenazi gender reversal, to the physical immaturity of Asians, to the masculine African and Muslim, and to everything in between. It’s not clear that we haven’t already passed ‘peak human’ and that once we stopped speciation with the development of large populations, long range trade, and cities. In other words, it’s adaptively preferable to have a large dumb aggressive, highly reproductive, consumptive, expansionary society rather than the benevolent and advanced worlds of star trek we imagine. If anything history shows that civilizations grow to the point where they have funded the evolution of competitors who then conquer them. But we have this wonderful adaptive hierarchy available to us. 1) LEVEL ONE (gender bias) {Paternal, Sovereign, Meritocratic, Eugenic, Packs (K)} + {Maternal, Collective, Equalitarian, Dysgenic, Herds (R)} = Adaptive flexibility. 2) LEVEL TWO (dimorphism) {Increased sexual dimorphism, Decreased sexual Dimorphism} + {Increased sexual maturity, Decreased Sexual Maturity} = Adaptive Flexibility 3) LEVEL THREE (redistribution) Normative and Institutional Redistribution of reproduction (shift) + Normative and Institutional Suppression of class reproduction (shift) = Adaptive Flexibility 4) LEVEL FOUR (mating) Assortative mating and Late Marriage vs Arranged Mating and early marriage. = Adaptive Flexibility 5) LEVEL FIVE (signals) Status Signals => Behavioral Expression of Gene Expression = Adaptive Flexibility 6) LEVEL SIX (design) Education, Training, and Genetic Manipulation. = Adaptive Flexibility With these various methods we can produce a population for almost any purpose within a generation or two.

In my work, I assume that very little genetic ‘evolution’ occurs at all. And that instead, humans possess an extraordinary ability to express multiple evolutionary strategies in response to changes, pressures, and shocks. We can call upon an amazing wealth of genetic expression of ability if we need to. And it can occur rapidly by institutional and status shifts, or slowly over centuries. So I see our genes as an inventory of expressible biases that in combinations produce very different divisions of perception, cognition, knowledge and labor. From the effeminate Ashkenazi gender reversal, to the physical immaturity of Asians, to the masculine African and Muslim, and to everything in between. It’s not clear that we haven’t already passed ‘peak human’ and that once we stopped speciation with the development of large populations, long range trade, and cities. In other words, it’s adaptively preferable to have a large dumb aggressive, highly reproductive, consumptive, expansionary society rather than the benevolent and advanced worlds of star trek we imagine. If anything history shows that civilizations grow to the point where they have funded the evolution of competitors who then conquer them. But we have this wonderful adaptive hierarchy available to us. 1) LEVEL ONE (gender bias) {Paternal, Sovereign, Meritocratic, Eugenic, Packs (K)} + {Maternal, Collective, Equalitarian, Dysgenic, Herds (R)} = Adaptive flexibility. 2) LEVEL TWO (dimorphism) {Increased sexual dimorphism, Decreased sexual Dimorphism} + {Increased sexual maturity, Decreased Sexual Maturity} = Adaptive Flexibility 3) LEVEL THREE (redistribution) Normative and Institutional Redistribution of reproduction (shift) + Normative and Institutional Suppression of class reproduction (shift) = Adaptive Flexibility 4) LEVEL FOUR (mating) Assortative mating and Late Marriage vs Arranged Mating and early marriage. = Adaptive Flexibility 5) LEVEL FIVE (signals) Status Signals => Behavioral Expression of Gene Expression = Adaptive Flexibility 6) LEVEL SIX (design) Education, Training, and Genetic Manipulation. = Adaptive Flexibility With these various methods we can produce a population for almost any purpose within a generation or two.