> Mrs. Apple Pie points out that the reproductive success of Genghis Khan belies your claim that we are all betas now.
In war social rules tend to dissolve a bit. Also the general rule that sexual activity should take place in private.
> Ultimately this is such a provocative post, filled with interesting ideas, that it's difficult to reply coherently.
That is the peril of thinking while writing. It also doesn't help that I know of no one else who is writing about this, so it very much starting from scratch. Which forces me to think of one new question after another. The result becomes a bit... dense.
> I don't believe that the main drag on modern society is women competing uselessly.
I'm very usure about the mechanisms here. People do technically useless things to socialize all the time. No one wants a society where one hundred percent of the population is working on rocket science one hundred percent of the time. So obviously, time wasted is not a great measurement of the social usefulness or uselessness of a practice.
I think that what makes the uselessness look so bad, is that it makes it obvious that it is all a big competition. If people compete in useful sports, they can always claim that they are actually into the sport, not the competition. For example, I can claim I'm into writing because I like it and find it important, not only because I want to write better than others. Sure, females can claim that their efforts in front of the mirror is of artistic nature and not at all competitive. I don't believe it (I need to think more about why).
> Mrs. Apple Pie points out that the reproductive success of Genghis Khan belies your claim that we are all betas now.
In war social rules tend to dissolve a bit. Also the general rule that sexual activity should take place in private.
> Ultimately this is such a provocative post, filled with interesting ideas, that it's difficult to reply coherently.
That is the peril of thinking while writing. It also doesn't help that I know of no one else who is writing about this, so it very much starting from scratch. Which forces me to think of one new question after another. The result becomes a bit... dense.
> I don't believe that the main drag on modern society is women competing uselessly.
I'm very usure about the mechanisms here. People do technically useless things to socialize all the time. No one wants a society where one hundred percent of the population is working on rocket science one hundred percent of the time. So obviously, time wasted is not a great measurement of the social usefulness or uselessness of a practice.
I think that what makes the uselessness look so bad, is that it makes it obvious that it is all a big competition. If people compete in useful sports, they can always claim that they are actually into the sport, not the competition. For example, I can claim I'm into writing because I like it and find it important, not only because I want to write better than others. Sure, females can claim that their efforts in front of the mirror is of artistic nature and not at all competitive. I don't believe it (I need to think more about why).