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Science in action

Although evolution is an accepted scientific fact, most readers reject it as being opposed to their religious beliefs. So, attempting to prove its validity here would be wasted effort, but, as a mental exercise for the open-minded, it can prove enlightening to consider how evolution’s lessons impact our lives. The prime lesson is that behavior, like physical condition, is a product of evolutionary processes.

This means that the behaviors which have helped us survive over 300,000 years as a distinct species are the behaviors that we are still genetically programmed with. Next to obtaining sufficient resources, reproduction is the most important survival behavior. All of your ancestors were successful at reproduction because they lived long enough and they employed a successful strategy.

Nature has given rise to an infinite number of reproduction strategies: female praying mantises will eat their mates during coitus, male crocodiles eat their offspring. Evolution’s lessons are: “Different strokes for different folks,” and “Whatever works.” Human males employ several reproductive strategies, including entering into consensual monogamous and polygamous arrangements and, like other animal species, non-consensual solutions, essentially rape (including interspecies rape). We know rape has worked as a reproductive solution from the simple fact that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of men incarcerated world-wide for sexual assault and this is the tip of the iceberg of all the males who have committed the act at least once.

Only genetic programming can explain why a substantial number of males are predisposed to engage in non-consensual sex despite the severe consequences of extended incarceration. In addition, a recent Swedish study (Guardian, June ’15) of 21,000 convicted sex offenders found that their male relatives were 5x more likely than the average male to also be sexual offenders which confirms a genetic basis for the behavior.

The recent capture of the Golden State killer and serial rapist is an example of evolutionary genetics in action. After decades of avoiding detection, the suspect was nabbed when investigators, using his DNA recovered from an old crime scene, identified his great-great grandparents based on their DNA found on a public website of people who had contributed their DNA in search of their ancestors. The investigators then were able to identify and sort through thousands of relatives to get to him. Analysis of DNA collected from ancient fossils and bones has established a million years of human ancestry, which includes non-homo sapiens predecessors.

Patrick Radcliff

Vienna

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