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submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

I'd be cautious with saying evolutionary advantage here.

I don't believe the "Gay Uncle hypothesis" any more than the somewhat debunked "Grandmother Hypothesis", which aimed to explain menopause with biological altruism. Just because we could think of a way in that it might be advantageous for a species doesn't mean it's advantageous for an individuals fitness.

Of course, it can be still an advantage, but we'd only know with more free, uncensored research.

[-] Snowclone@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Does evolutionary pressure only exist on individuals? I've never heard that. There's a wide variety of species that are highly socially organized, do you not accept that that's through evolutionarily pressure?

[-] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I never said that. What I meant is that a behaviour, which benefits a species as a whole but reduces one individual's fitness, is not evolutionary competitive. It's evolutionary game theory, like the prisoners dilemma from normal game theory.

And to determine if some behaviour is such a dilemma, you have to consider costs and benefits of it, which is not at all clear in natural situations. That's why I said it needs to be studied.

But I must concede, I sort of assumed what exactly you called an evolutionary advantage. Common homosexuality in penguins or not discriminating against homosexual individuals in penguins have very different analysis here.