WrongBot comments on Against the standard narrative of human sexual evolution - Less Wrong

7 Post author: WrongBot 23 July 2010 05:28AM

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Comment author: WrongBot 23 July 2010 02:33:56PM 0 points [-]

Yes, but sperm competition is an easier departure from small, reciprocally altruistic forager bands. Pre-agriculture, defecting in that particular Prisoner's Dilemma led to either death or a much narrower selection of mates. Getting rid of the strict enforcement of resource sharing (by adopting agriculture) is the discontinuity that makes this counter-intuitive.

Comment author: [deleted] 23 July 2010 04:25:14PM 0 points [-]

Ah I've see you've thought of the effect of agriculture, I should have read all the comments before posting.

Comment author: WrongBot 23 July 2010 04:49:30PM 0 points [-]

Your point was a good one. The societal changes wrought by agriculture cannot be emphasized heavily enough.