From: ct (tilley314@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 05:13:58 MDT
At 08:14 PM 9/22/2002 -0700, spike wrote:
>After seeing this rural community first hand, I
>began pondering mechanisms which would explain
>why humans may evolve more quickly than similar
>apes. In humans there is evidently more impact
>from mechanisms such as mate selection than in
>other species: both males and females are highly
>selective, and understand the relationship between
>copulation and reproduction. My notion is that
>evolutionary changes can occur in far fewer
>generations in humans than other mammalian
>species for that reason. The entire mating
>process is far less random in humans, so that
>unnatural selection (smart and ambitious being
>constantly removed as mating choices) has a
>large and fast impact on the population.
56:20247 Retherford, Robert D.; Sewell, William H. How intelligence affects
fertility. Intelligence, Vol. 13, No. 2, Apr-Jun 1989. 169-85 pp. Norwood,
New Jersey. In Eng.
"In an earlier study of the reproductive experience of a large, randomly
selected cohort of high school seniors who graduated in 1957 in the State
of Wisconsin, we found that IQ had a small but statistically significant
negative effect on subsequent family size. This negative effect was
considerably larger for women than for men. This paper addresses two
questions not answered in the earlier study: (1) Why is the effect of IQ on
subsequent family size negative? And (2) why is it considerably more
negative for women than for men? Path analysis shows that the effects of IQ
on subsequent family size are almost entirely indirect through
education....This finding suggests the further hypothesis that, in modern
societies, the direction of effect of education on family size may predict
the direction of evolution of genotypic IQ."
Correspondence: R. D. Retherford, East-West Population Institute, East-West
Center, 1777 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
Of course, correlation does not equal causation. However
cooperation/collaboration may yield corroboration.
;-))
ciao/ct
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corroboration
Introduced as a technical term in philosophy of science by Popper. A
theory's degree of corroboration is measured by 'the severity of the
various tests to which the hypothesis in question can be, and has been,
subjected' (The Logic of Scientific Discovery). Since stronger - more
falsifiable - theories can be subjected to severer tests than weaker ones,
degree of corroboration is not probability. A high degree of corroboration
makes no promises about the theory's future performance.
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