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Eric Smith writes:</div>
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< <span style="color:rgb(32, 31, 30);font-family:"Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;font-size:15px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);display:inline !important">Why
do male mammals have nipples? ></span></div>
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<span style="color:rgb(32, 31, 30);font-family:"Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;font-size:15px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);display:inline !important">If I
were arguing with the apologists, fundamentalists, etc. at one of their hate demonstrations, this is where I'd raise the obvious fact that God wants to facilitate the practice of transsexualism. Oh, to be young again.</span></div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> on behalf of David Eric Smith <desmith@santafe.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, January 12, 2022 2:36 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] gene complex for homosexuality</font>
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<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word; line-break:after-white-space">The framing that this question has has always felt so bizarre to me, but I have struggled to explain why, and what would not be bizarre. It feels like a bunch of set-theoreticians sitting
in armchairs arguing about what “awareness” “must be like” so that they can predict it from their habitual formulations in mathematical logic.
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</div>
<div class="">Why do male mammals have nipples? Because mammals have nipples. Why isn’t that odd, that a strict suppression of all the developmental machinery that creates nipples might not be “encoded” in some wildly fancy collection of genes all localized
within a Y chromosome? Because who the hell would bother with all that, when one can just form them and not use them in half the members, and not think about it further.</div>
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</div>
<div class="">Correspondingly, what the hell is “attraction to men” or “attraction to women” (in real, nuts and bolts operational terms?). Do we know? Does “evolution know?” If nobody knows what it is, how could there ever be some maniacal effort to localize
it onto a sex chromosome? And even more, what to do when sex determination isn’t alternation of chromosomes, but something bizarre and asymmetric like XX/XY systems?</div>
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</div>
<div class="">But if “nobody” knows what it is, and much of whatever “it is” is drawing from lots of stuff across autosomes, then:</div>
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</div>
<div class="">Why are some men attracted to men? Because lots of women are attracted to men.</div>
<div class="">Why are some women attracted to women? Because lots of men are attracted to women.</div>
<div class="">How is the argument any different from any of D’arcy Thompson’s arguments?</div>
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</div>
<div class="">If fish can determine sex facultatively according to environment, then the overall project of getting two mating types (as the genders are referred to in yeast) out of what is broadly “one genome” (+/- Y and +/- mitochondria) is a pretty complicated,
plastic, and signalable capacity. It seems like just the kind of thing that wouldn’t repay the cost of hammering it down into some strict program like nematode cell division or the lobster stomatogastric complex’s operations.</div>
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</div>
<div class="">The whole bizarreness in this seems to me like it comes somehow from what people assign as “traits” and then insist there must be “explanations for”. It would be as bad as taking a word (like “emergence”) and then going on and on arguing about
what it “really means”. Oh, sorry… that was a different hobby horse.</div>
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<div class="">Eric</div>
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<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Jan 12, 2022, at 1:04 PM, Eric Charles <<a href="mailto:eric.phillip.charles@gmail.com" class="">eric.phillip.charles@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div dir="ltr" class="">Re potential evolutionary explanations for homosexuality: They really don't have to be very convoluted at all. <br clear="all" class="">
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I prepared a worksheet for a class 15 or so years ago, after a bunch of students starting trying use homosexuality as proof that evolution couldn't explain (any) behavior. I'd rather just link to the blog... but to make things easier for other's, I'll also
copy-paste below: <a href="https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2ffixingpsychology.blogspot.com%2f2012%2f03%2fevolution-and-homosexuality.html&c=E,1,fjB6y7zacZOW2c99wRxey5Lby--zc7qrZ3QNS4epbVLVKj_YkeEkujyM9uAGrhOPS5wAlhjLdkWXrmPWxwBRI48IRm6U1Birh_yrq8AhxQB74qgzHQzsT2TH_mpF&typo=1" class="">Fixing
Psychology: Evolution and Homosexuality</a>
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<div dir="ltr" class="">====================</div>
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<div class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px; text-align:center">
<br class="x_gmail-Apple-interchange-newline">
Evolution and Homosexuality</div>
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">Evolutionary theorists could potentially explain homosexuality using three distinct methods. The first two take the modern notion of homosexuality at face value,
the third questions it.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">1. Explain homosexuality as a benefit in and of itself.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">The most straightforward way to explain the presence of </span><i class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">any </i><span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">trait
using evolutionary logic is to tell a story about how individuals with that trait reproduce their genes better than those without the trait. In the case of exclusive homosexuality, that is difficult, because homosexuals do not reproduce. However, it is still
possible.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">For example, a costly traits may be so helpful to your relatives (i.e., your kin) that it more than makes up for the cost you pay. This is called “kin selection”.
Your children will share 50% of your genes, so we can give them a value of .5 in terms of your reproduction. A full sibling’s children share 25% of your genes, so we can give them a value of .25. That means that if you posses a trait that makes you have one
less child on average (-.5), but you get three more nephews or nieces in exchange (+.75), natural selection will favor that trait (= .25). On average, the next generation will have more of your genes by virtue of your possessing a trait that makes you have
fewer children. This explanation could be even more powerful when applied your own parents, i.e., helping raise your brothers and sisters, with whom you share as many genes as your own children (both .5).</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">If that was the explanation for human homosexuality, what might you also expect to be true of homosexuality?</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">2. Explain homosexuality as a byproduct of other adaptive mechanisms.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">There are many types of explanations compatible with evolutionary theory, but that do not explain the traits under questions as adaptations in and of themselves.
In one way or another, these explanations explain traits as the byproduct of some other adaptive process. The trait in question could be a necessary byproduct of two evolutionarily sound items; for example, an armpit appears when you combine a torso with an
arm, but no animal was ever selected specifically for having armpits! Alternatively, the trait in question could be the result of an adaptive mechanism placed in an unusual context; for example, evolution favored humans that desired sweet and fatty food in
an environment where such things were rare; now that we are in an environment where such things are plentiful, this desire can cause serious health problems. Homosexuality could be explainable in terms of biological or psychological mechanisms acting appropriately
in odd circumstances, or as a byproduct of selection for other beneficial traits.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">If that explanation were correct, what types of traits might humans have been selected for that could result in homosexuality when pushed to the extreme or placed
in unusual circumstances?</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">3. Reject the notion of homosexuality as it is currently conceived and offer new categories.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">Evolutionary thinking often necessitates a rejection of old categories and the creation of new ones. The current systems of dividing the world may not be relevant
to answering evolutionary questions. The labels “Homosexual” and “Heterosexual” may be good examples. The modern notions of strict homo vs. hetero-sexuality arose relatively recently. It has never been bizarrely uncommon for women or men to live together or
to set up long term relationships with members of the same sex. What is relatively new is the notion that this can divide people into types, some who exclusively do one thing and some who exclusively do another. A so-called homosexual man need only have sex
with a woman once to have a baby, and visa versa. While this is now the stuff of comedic amusement, it may be a much more natural context for homosexuality. There may be no reason to think that so-called homosexuals of the past got pregnant, or impregnated
others, less often than so-called hetersexuals.</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
<span class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">If this is the case, would there necessarily be any selection for or against preferring the relatively exclusive company of same-sex others? What possible benefits
could there be to raising children in a “homosexual” environment? (Hey now, don’t bring moral judgment into this, it is only a question of surviving and thriving.)</span><br class="" style="font-family:Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size:13.2px">
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<div dir="ltr" class=""><a href="mailto:echarles@american.edu" target="_blank" class=""></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" class="x_gmail_attr">On Sat, Jan 8, 2022 at 6:13 PM ⛧ glen <<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com" class="">gepropella@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br class="">
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<blockquote class="x_gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204); padding-left:1ex">
I'm in an ongoing argument with a gay friend about how tortured Darwinian arguments are in accounting for homosexuality. He claims they're VERY torturous. I'm inclined toward the first mentioned here:
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26089486" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26089486</a><br class="">
<br class="">
But, were group selection and/or cultural evolution a thing, then my friend would be more right. Anyone here have a strong opinion?<br class="">
<br class="">
-- <br class="">
glen ⛧<br class="">
<br class="">
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