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James_Miller comments on If there IS alien super-inteligence in our own galaxy, then what it could be like? - Less Wrong
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The Amish.
If you are not subject to the Malthusian trap, evolution favors subgroups that want to have lots of offspring. Given variation in a population not subject to the Malthusian trap concerning how many children each person wants to have, and given that one's preferences concerning children are in part genetically determined, the number of children the average member of such a species wants to have should steadily increase.
Aren't the Amish (and other fast-spawning tribes) a perfect example of how this doesn't lead to universal domination? They're all groups that either embrace primitivity or are stuck in it, and to a large extent couldn't maintain their high reproductive rate without parasitism on surrounding cultures.
Depends on how you define domination. Over the long run if trends continue the Amish will dominate through demography. I don't think the Amish are parasites since they don't take resources from the rest of us.
They are parasitic on our infrastructure, healthcare system, and military. Amish reap the benefits of modern day road construction methods to transport their trade goods, but could not themselves construct modern day roads. Depending on the branch of Amish, a significant number of their babies are born in modern-day hospitals, something they could not build themselves and which contributes to their successful birth rate.
Everything you wrote is also true of my family, but because of specialization and trade we are not parasites.
Last time I checked you weren't arguing that your family was going to dominate the world through breeding.