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Re: More Evolutionary Thought
Ruby Rohrlich (rohrlich@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU)
Thu, 21 Sep 1995 22:37:23 -0400
Elisab eth: in the sentence "People like this were sometimes able to
scare their neighbours into giving them their own food and even their own
wives or daughters," you assume that the owners of "intelligence" viewed
as "Magic power" were all male; yet there were societies in which they
were female. Ruby Rohrlich.
On Thu, 21 Sep 1995, Fraser Elisabeth wrote:
> > Intelligence can also be selected against, we all know examples where
> > exceptional intelligence has been treated with open hositlity, fear and
> > suspicion. This can mitigate the selection process don't you think?
>
> What if it's not identified as "intelligence", which is a modern
> notion and hence of not very much evolutionary significance,
> but rather as "magic power"? People like this were
> sometimes able to scare their neighbours into giving them
> their own food and even their own wives or daughters.
> Under these conditions the bright chap would be
> treated with covert hostility and suspicion, but might
> still be able to spread his genes quite nicely, thank-you.
>
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