Human behavior evolved in the stone age. Now we can plausibly colonize the galaxy. What are the consequences?

Ozwald8 - I'm not excusing or advocating rape. Nonetheless, there is a compelling explanation for why rape could be a genetic strategy.

Consider this: long ago there were animals (perhaps men) who could not compete for breeding potential through their guitar playing ability. But they could pass on their genes through rape. Any breeding behavior that succeeds is eligible to become inherited behavior.

We see variations on this theme throughout the animal kingdom. Adult male lions who cannot take over a pride nonetheless manage to sneak in and impregnate lionesses. Same for wild horses who cannot get their own herd; same for many other animals.

Rape is the human equivalent for breeding without the consent of your lion pride.

Jeff C -

I understand your comments about memetics, which is why I referenced them in my question.

Unfortunately, this branch of science has not borne fruit, and is rapidly loosing respectability. I believe the main academic journal has stopped producing new articles.

"In 2005, the Journal of Memetics – Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission ceased publication and published a set of "obituaries" for memetics." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics#Maturity

And furthermore, I think history has shown us that the evolution of ideas has not had substantial impact on our behavior. Genocide has happened throughout history, and did not cease after the development of either philosophy or religion. This tells me that ideas are not strong enough to stop our inherited behavior tendencies.

Synchronicity915 - you are correct that, if we colonize remote planets, human evolution will resume.

Nonetheless, human evolution *on earth* cannot proceed under current conditions. Perhaps you missed my point about natural selection.

For natural selection to resume on earth, we would need a set of conditions under which favorable genes are selected for breeding. Since the rise of modern medicine, that has not happened, except for diseases which kill humans before the opportunity to reproduce, i.e. before reaching adulthood.

"AskClammy" - unfortunately, I agree with you all too well.

In fact, your statement may well jive with observational data, namely Fermi's Paradox. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_Paradox

My favorite explanation for why we haven't discovered intelligent life is that all examples of intelligent life have destroyed themselves prior to colonizing the galaxy.

In fact, you could make a reasonable hypothesis that our inborn competitive behavior prevents competitive, intelligent life from colonizing the galaxy, since it tends to create wars, and sufficiently advanced technology makes wars genocidal.

"Finite Wisdom" your statement is a little ambiguous, but I'll take it as a compliment.

In fact, that's exactly the ending I hope for myself, other than the fact that I would like to be martyred for my ideas (at the age of 1100!

Hey MikeY -

Actually, the theory of sexual dimorphism is a well-established aspect of evolution, and I didn't invent it.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_dimorphism

And perhaps you should learn something about lion behavior. Consider this lion behavior pattern: when an adult lion takes over a pride, he kills all the cubs, and the females automatically go into heat. I think that type of behavior qualifies as "aggressive".

Furthermore, you are trying to put words into my mouth with regard to all men having rape genes. Like all genetic attributes, there are many competing variations, and only some men can plausibly have genes that pre-dispose them towards rape behavior.

MikeY - just too add a conclusion to my previous statements, I definitely do not believe that "all human males are genetically pre-programmed for pillage and rapine", nor did I say so.

Roadkill - personally, I think there is a very good chance we will be able to develop AI. However, I wonder if that will make our long-term survival more or less likely!