Can Paleo Stop the Infertility Epidemic?

Is there an infertility epidemic or are people actually choosing to have fewer/no children? The fact that people tend to have children at a later age may also be influencing their actual fertility, as it tends to decrease with age.

[QUOTE=DavidBrennan;951982]It's cool that you're a Darwinian dead-end and our species will be rid of your genes as soon as you die....but please don't impose your lifestyle choices on others.

Technically, I totally disagree with the premise of your philosophy (not understanding free market responses to new market needs, Moore's law, or the exponential increase in human problem solving), but that, too, is your business. Just make sure to keep yourself sterilized and leave the rest of us alone. Thank you.[/QUOTE]Breeders gonna breed.

[QUOTE=DavidBrennan;951982]It's cool that you're a Darwinian dead-end and our species will be rid of your genes as soon as you die....but please don't impose your lifestyle choices on others.

Technically, I totally disagree with the premise of your philosophy (not understanding free market responses to new market needs, Moore's law, or the exponential increase in human problem solving), but that, too, is your business. Just make sure to keep yourself sterilized and leave the rest of us alone. Thank you.[/QUOTE]
Lol, our species should want my genes. Call me arrogant if you want, but I'm smart and naturally athletic. Problem is, people like me look at the state of the planet and go "oh eff that, I'm not going to bring a child into this world," ... whereas dumb (literally), uneducated morons continue to shit out kids every couple of years, and our (American) society enables them.
Don't believe me? Walk around in Wal-Mart for a few hours on a Saturday.

[QUOTE=AmyMac703;952090]Lol, our species should want my genes. Call me arrogant if you want, but I'm smart and naturally athletic. Problem is, people like me look at the state of the planet and go "oh eff that, I'm not going to bring a child into this world," ... whereas dumb (literally), uneducated morons continue to shit out kids every couple of years, and our (American) society enables them.
Don't believe me? Walk around in Wal-Mart for a few hours on a Saturday.[/QUOTE]

So you encourage society devolving into the movie "Idiocracy" ?

I'm saying that "Idiocracy" is exactly what's happening, whether we like it or not.

[QUOTE=AmyMac703;952090]Lol, our species should want my genes. Call me arrogant if you want, but I'm smart and naturally athletic. Problem is, people like me look at the state of the planet and go "oh eff that, I'm not going to bring a child into this world," ... whereas dumb (literally), uneducated morons continue to shit out kids every couple of years, and our (American) society enables them.
Don't believe me? Walk around in Wal-Mart for a few hours on a Saturday.[/QUOTE]

I think that's too pessimistic.

You can certainly find an opinion somewhat like that in Francis Galton (Darwin's cousin) -- and, truth be told, here and there in Darwin himself, too. (Biologists don't like to admit that, because the great man has been rather hagiographied ... but it's a fact.) However, you immediately run into a problem with evolutionary theory if say that it's everywhere and always operative and always does the needful ... but at the same time needs a helping hand. Huh? How could it?

The brilliant Australian philosopher David Stove is very good on this:

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Darwinian-Fairytales-Selfish-Heredity-Evolution/dp/1594032009/]Amazon.com: Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity and Other Fables of Evolution (9781594032004): David Stove: Books[/url]

I think the fact of the matter is that evolution works on such a long timescale, that all this was sorted out long ago. Human beings are very finely-tuned creatures well-suited to their environment and, while genetics is part of the picture, the heredity of Wal-Mart couple really isn't that bad.

What, I think, matters is epigenetics. A human being, whatever his or her genetic potential, is not going to realize it unless getting the ideal environmental circumstances (including, of course, nutrition) from pre-conception onwards.

If people get bad enough nutrition, then I suppose they [I]won't be able[/I] to breed -- just like Pottenger's cats after a few generations.

Original post: People are being savagely assaulted and the damage from those attacks is likely irreparable.

Response: "Assaulting people is good!"

Response = Fail.

I'm not saying that evolution doesn't happen, I'm saying that the processes that drove human evolution for thousands and thousands of years aren't really present in modern human society. Not having read the book you linked (just the summary on Amazon), I'd argue that altruism isn't a point of evidence [i]against[/i] the theory of evolution -- just a "fluke" in our development that may ultimately contribute to our demise as a species. It's not as though such an occurrence (a species adopts a trait or behavior for whatever reason that initially seems good but turns out to be bad in the long term) is limited only to homo sapiens when it comes to the entire biological history of the planet.

And I totally agree that genetics is only part of the equation, but do you really think that Wal-Mart child's parents are going to feed him healthy food and tell him to read more and go outside and exercise instead of watching Judge Judy or whatever the hell they like to watch nowadays?

I guess infertility in stupid people who eat cheetos and coke all day might help the process of evolution over a few generations, but unfortunately we won't be around to see that day.

[QUOTE=DavidBrennan;952130]Original post: People are being savagely assaulted and the damage from those attacks is likely irreparable.

Response: "Assaulting people is good!"

Response = Fail.[/QUOTE]

Horseshit.

[QUOTE=cori93437;952147]Horseshit.[/QUOTE]

Is a great fertilizer