Ten Politically Incorrect Truths about Human Nature
Psychology Today has a great article on human nature. I am not sure I buy all the arguments – or at least not the explanations as everything does not revolve around sex – but it’s still intriguing.
The 10 points are:
1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)
2. Humans are naturally polygamous
3. Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy
4. Most suicide bombers are Muslim
5. Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce
6. Beautiful people have more daughters
7. What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals
8. The midlife crisis is a myth—sort of
9. It’s natural for politicians to risk everything for an affair (but only if they’re male)
10. Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist
Some of my favorite passages are:
“Women often say no to men. Men have had to conquer foreign lands, win battles and wars, compose symphonies, author books, write sonnets, paint cathedral ceilings, make scientific discoveries, play in rock bands, and write new computer software in order to impress women so that they will agree to have sex with them. Men have built (and destroyed) civilization in order to impress women, so that they might say yes.”
“Studies demonstrate unequivocally that men are far more interested in short-term casual sex than women. In one now-classic study, 75 percent of undergraduate men approached by an attractive female stranger agreed to have sex with her; none of the women approached by an attractive male stranger did. Many men who would not date the stranger nonetheless agreed to have sex with her.”
I found the article interesting, especially the part about why suicide bombers kill themselves “they kill themselves as martyrs to gain access to their 72 virgins in heaven”.. I guess those guys really are DYING to get laid. Bad joke I know. Great blog Fabrice, your and Guy Kawasakis’ are my Favorites.
This is very interesting.
It reminds me one post I read from Joel On Software about Elegance and Simplicity:
“People, for the most part, are not playing with their software because they want to. They’re using the software as a tool to accomplish something else that they would like to do. Maybe they are using a chat program to try and seem witty, in hopes that the person they are chatting with will want to spend time with them, so that, ultimately, they have a better chance of getting laid, so that, ultimately, their selfish DNA will get to replicate itself. Maybe they are using a spreadsheet to try and figure out if they can afford a bigger apartment, so that, ultimately, dates will be more impressed when they come over, increasing their chance of getting laid, again, benefiting the DNA. Maybe they’re working on a PowerPoint for the boss so that they will get a promotion so that they’ll have more money which they can use to rent a larger apartment that would attract mates, thus increasing their chance of getting laid, (getting the idea yet?) so the selfish DNA can replicate. Maybe they are looking for a recipe for goat cheese ravioli on the Internet, etc., etc., … DNA.”
A technician I knew who worked at Honeywell when I was there ( The Awesome Ray Lawson ) once said “a womans biggest concern in sleeping with you is if anyone will find out ) He was quite experienced. ( and this is an understatement ). Nature is indeed powerful. It was recently mentioned in an article about a mule that managed to give birth that the other female mules being sterile would try to steal the foal. This made me feel the universal nature of a womans impulse to have children.