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DegenRolf's profile
Rolf Degen
Rolf Degen
Rolf Degen
@DegenRolf

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Rolf Degen

@DegenRolf

Science writer and book author in psychology, neuroscience and evolution

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amazon.com/Rolf-Degen/e/B…
Joined July 2013

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    1. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      Which then also casts doubt on the underlying reasoning. It's no longer clear why you can interpret the results in this light. eg. that these cues are signs for what you claim. That would not even follow if it had worked out, as you could only establish a connection for the cues.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    2. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      Prima facie it could also be a meaningless feedback loop. Apart from that, a higher chance of fathering a cuckoo child does not logically imply that you will have relatively more descendants. (If it were so and it had worked for a long time, it would also be the norm.)

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    3. Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @VivianOppen

      Rolf Degen Retweeted Rolf Degen

      Not meaningless, but an arbitrary preference, as in the sexy son hypothesis. If women like it, it becomes a sure-fire success.https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1016341650023636992 …

      Rolf Degen added,

      Rolf Degen @DegenRolf
      Replying to @ACCapitalist @Inoran9
      It is a bit complicated. According to the best and latest research, beauty is not linked to health/good genes. But it is fitness enhancing, merely because it is sought after by others. The sexy son (or daughter) theory explains how. pic.twitter.com/qGQn5PKYBE
      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
    4. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Meaningless in the sense that it is not "adaptive" for anything, just so, accidental. (In quotes because "adaptive" is an elusive concept as far as I can see. Not to say there are not also features that are pretty obviously an adaptation to something.)

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    5. Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @VivianOppen

      The thing about sexy-son "adaptations" is that they tend to become counteradaptive to survival. Darwin recognized this, and it robbed him off his sleep. The lesson was later forgotten; good genes reduced sexual selection to natural selection. And failed, as we see now.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    6. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      I would say it fails for logical reasons alone. Natural selection in the original sense is about chances of survival. Sexual selection about chances of finding a mate. There is no reason why the two would always have to align and one then collapses into the other.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    7. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      Once you concede that they at least sometimes do not align (ie. chances of survival go up for a trait, but down for finding a mate or vice versa), it cannot be the same thing. Arguments that try to overcome this, must fail at some point.

      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
    8. Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @VivianOppen

      Rolf Degen Retweeted Rolf Degen

      Richard Prum has written an ingenious and enlightening book on the subject. Also a great 1 hour talk on youtube. The man has thought this through:https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/863454791283994627 …

      Rolf Degen added,

      Rolf Degen @DegenRolf
      The idea that females select males according to signs of good genes is high in popularity and low in reproducibility https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Beauty-Darwins-Forgotten-Theory/dp/0385537212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494698605&sr=1-1&keywords=darwin+beauty … pic.twitter.com/F61tTnfeTv
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    9. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      Thanks a lot for the reference and engaging with my sloppy remarks. I have thought about this, but not really thought it through, more a hunch that something is wrong.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    10. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

      Just out of interest: Have you read David Stove's "Darwinian Fairytales"? And if so what's your take? I found it very thought-provoking. I don't think he gets it right, but he is on to something. (Title may look like "intelligent design," but that's not it, Stove was an atheist.)

      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 15 Dec 2018
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      Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @VivianOppen

      Rolf Degen Retweeted Rolf Degen

      Haven't read that one. Always after the latest stuff. In general terms, I do subscribe to evolutionary psychology. It is still the best part of psychology, which needs Darwin. And it it seems to be able to clear the dung out:https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/999280466577559552 …

      Rolf Degen added,

      Rolf Degen @DegenRolf
      David Buss, pioneer of evolutionary psychology, acknowledges that women are probably not shopping for good genes when engaging in casual sex. He had been a co-founder of said hypothesis. https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/16165 … pic.twitter.com/JFIumCmfQj
      Show this thread
      10:52 AM - 15 Dec 2018
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        2. FreisinnigeZeitung‏ @FreisinnigeZtg 15 Dec 2018
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          Replying to @DegenRolf @VivianOppen

          As a follower I know that you subscribe to evolutionary psychology. I am extremely skeptical to put it mildly, but have to admit that I have only kind of a hunch so far. If Malthus is wrong, populations must behave in a very different way, which then pulls the rug under Darwin.

          2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 15 Dec 2018
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          Replying to @FreisinnigeZtg @VivianOppen

          Rolf Degen Retweeted Rolf Degen

          Sex differences in mate preferences, the most basic tenet of evolutionary psychology, are large and completely unbeaten: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/1027821532071034880 … The tragedy of the male sex drive is WILDLY self-evident:https://twitter.com/DegenRolf/status/984440607094472704 …

          Rolf Degen added,

          Rolf Degen @DegenRolf
          Here is a bit more on the tragedy of the male sex drive, from Roy Baumeister's book - in my view the most profound and stirring book about sex ever written. https://www.amazon.com/Social-Dimension-Sex-Roy-Baumeister/dp/0205324428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523527827&sr=1-1&keywords=the+social+dimensions+of+sex … pic.twitter.com/aI8GKkYJv6
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          2 replies 1 retweet 1 like
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