Posted by: rsr
Subject tags: society, sexuality, relationship, human behavior
on
Jan 8, 2009
I recently commented on Kelly's blog and it occurs to me that my comments might not fully embody my views on the subject. The topic involved covert infidelity and it is this subject that I want to address here.
I should begin by acknowledging that infidelity is built into our species (see this video and this one). Everything about the dimorphic human form indicates that Homo sapiens evolved in the context of polygamous or promiscuous reproductive strategies, and if one is not convinced by comparative morphology, one need only refer to behavioral statistics. Indeed, female humans average more sexual partners per lifetime than any other animal known (owing primarily to the skew from prostitution), and it is no secret that many male humans seek as many sexual partners as possible, regardless of marital status.
Posted by: rsr
Subject tags: society, science, biology
on
Dec 28, 2008
Those familiar with Open2it from its early days will readily discern that this blog represents a small change of format. After considering my place in this community, I decided to move my blog into the threaded community blog. I really like the intermingling of blog posts by all Open2it members and, frankly, I felt a bit left out in having a separate blog. From now on, my shorter contributions will appear among those of other members, while my longer notes will be assigned as either Articles or Essays.
Something that has fired more than a few neurons in my brain is a fundamental duality in science: the relative importance of ideas and data. Science, for those who are rusty on the nuts and bolts, is about hypothesis testing. There is a procedural formula for scientific research that proceeds from ideas to data gathering to analysis to answering questions and finally to asking new questions based on what was learned. The process is rather unending, which is appealing to some, but it boils down to a back and forth between ideas and data.
American dietitians, sex therapists, animal rights advocates, and social anthropologists gave a collective horrified gasp last week when Burger King announced their new body spray for men - Flame. Described as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat", the Burger King welcomes us to his castle sporting all the furry creepiness of Ron Jeremy, tenderly draped in dead animals, loin enhanced by a strategically placed and potentially phallic fire.
