Comments on: A Primatologist Looks at the FLDS

By: chanson

chanson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:35:06 +0000

Aerin — in fact, the book talks quite a bit about infanticide in both human cultures and in other species.

And I agree about how some of the strategies that worked well — even for humans — in the past (like strict gender roles) might not be the best strategies for our modern society. One advantage that has helped humans spread across the globe is our ability to change strategies and adapt to different environments. So we can’t just assume that the most typical or “natural” way of doing things is always the best way to do things under all circumstances.

I talked about this a bit in my “Rational Moms” post about this book, linked above.

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By: aerin

aerin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:13:57 +0000

Fascinating! I agree – it is important to note the distinction between animal communities and societies and human societies. For example, some animals may practice infanticide – but humans no longer encourage this practice (and most societies denounce the practice of taking the life of weaker young/humans).

We can learn a great deal from studying these societies – just wanted to note that there are fundamental differences. I’m sure if I read the book the author would discuss this further.

While animals may build their societies around strict gender roles, I’m not sure that makes the most sense for us in industrial societies.

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By: chanson

chanson — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:50:07 +0000

Hellmut — Very true. It’s a great thing, really, that parents these days can invest more time and energy into fewer kids (since low child mortality means parents can expect almost all of their kids to grow up) — instead of having more than they can handle and sadly letting natural selection take its course. I talked about this in Fertility, Mortality, or sex vs. death.

It’s sad to see people failing to adapt to their environment, hanging on to traditions that don’t work just for the sake of tradition and ideology.

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By: Hellmut

Hellmut — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:34:34 +0000

There are all sort of ways to organize human families but since children are so expensive, monogamy will remain the most common form or the mode.

For the same reason, average family size will continue to decline. It’s just too expensive to have more than one or two children.

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By: chanson

chanson — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:41:44 +0000

Jonathan — It’s a fun book. Once you’ve read it, please tell us what you think of it!

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By: Jonathan Blake

Jonathan Blake — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:39:13 +0000

This sounds fascinating; two of my favorite subjects in one book. I’m picking it up from the library today.

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