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<span id="zyzz"></span>[[File:Buff.jpg|thumb|right|One popular sex icon for men: Zyzz, died young of sudden cardiac arrest from too much steroid use to make himself look hyper-masculine. He was not a [[reproductive success]].]] | <span id="zyzz"></span>[[File:Buff.jpg|thumb|right|One popular sex icon for men: Zyzz, died young of sudden cardiac arrest from too much steroid use to make himself look hyper-masculine. He was not a [[reproductive success]].]] | ||
'''Fisherian runaway''' is a mechanism by which | '''Fisherian runaway''' is a mechanism by which [[sexual selection]] leads to exaggerated physical traits (ornamentation), potentially to the extent of [[maladaptiveness]] and reduced population viability,<ref>Encyclopedia of Ecology, By Brian D. Fath, page 316 https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x1h7DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA310&dq=%22fisherian+runaway%22+extinction+%22selection%22&ots=cq04BIA2Lf&sig=Otp5RbC3B_5W1ZR7Q3zGjPOe7uA#v=onepage&q=fisherian%20runaway&f</ref> or even extinction.<ref>The evolution of sexual strategy in modern humans: an interdisciplinary approach by Collins, Kendra Marie, https://studyres.com/doc/2550939/--california-state-university</ref><ref>Moen et al., 1999</ref> | ||
The name Fisherian runaway derives from the originator of the concept, Ronald Fisher, the 20th century British statistician, geneticist, eugenicist and racialist. | |||
== Animal examples == | == Animal examples == | ||
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[[File:Peacock courting peahen.jpg|alt=|thumb|"The females may be dull looking, but they're very picky." A peacock courting a peahen]] | [[File:Peacock courting peahen.jpg|alt=|thumb|"The females may be dull looking, but they're very picky." A peacock courting a peahen]] | ||
Females/males become more choosy about a heritable trait for the simple reason that other females/males find the trait attractive. As the selective pressure for females/males to prefer the trait increases so too does the selective pressure for females/males to produce the trait, creating a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback_loop positive feedback loop]. In response to the increased choosiness, males and females evolve to enlarge, overcomplicate or beautify that trait in efforts of becoming more attractive (larger dick size, larger breasts, etc.) The exponential nature of positive feedback loops leads to the inevitable conclusion, that the attractive trait eventually becomes comically unhealthy and [[Maladaptiveness|maladaptive]]. For example a man's dick becoming too long and large to fit inside the vagina, or a woman's breasts becoming so large and heavy the woman can no longer walk, and has to crawl, or be carried from point A to point B. These feedback loops in a stable environment do not become maladaptive for the entire species, because the comically unhealthy and [[Maladaptiveness|maladaptive]] individuals don't [[Reproductive success|reproduce]]. | Females/males become more choosy about a heritable trait for the simple reason that other females/males find the trait attractive. As the selective pressure for females/males to prefer the trait increases so too does the selective pressure for females/males to produce the trait, creating a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback_loop positive feedback loop]. In response to the increased choosiness, males and females evolve to enlarge, overcomplicate or beautify that trait in efforts of becoming more attractive (larger dick size, larger breasts, etc.) The exponential nature of positive feedback loops leads to the inevitable conclusion, that the attractive trait eventually becomes comically unhealthy and [[Maladaptiveness|maladaptive]]. For example a man's dick becoming too long and large to fit inside the vagina, or a woman's breasts becoming so large and heavy the woman can no longer walk, and has to crawl, or be carried from point A to point B. These feedback loops in a stable environment do not become maladaptive for the entire species, because the comically unhealthy and [[Maladaptiveness|maladaptive]] individuals don't [[Reproductive success|reproduce]]. | ||
Since females are [[Bateman's principle|more choosy]] in many species throughout the animal kingdom (including humans), the males tend to be more ornamented. | |||
=== Initiation === | === Initiation === | ||
Such feedback loops can be initiated by arbitrary aesthetic selection, but also when a trait is slightly correlated with fitness (e.g. health), or when a trait is similar in appearance to attractive or otherwise valuable objects or body parts.<ref>Fuller, R. C., Houle, D., & Travis, J. 2005. ''Sensory Bias as an Explanation for the Evolution of Mate Preferences.'' [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/444443 Abstract]], p. 444</ref> For example, women's breasts may have evolved to mimic their buttocks because the latter was already a sexually attractive body part before humans developed upright posture, and then Fisherian runaway may have lead to breasts becoming increasingly larger and increasingly attractive to men. | Such feedback loops can be initiated by arbitrary aesthetic selection, but also when a trait is slightly correlated with fitness (e.g. health), or when a trait is similar in appearance to attractive or otherwise valuable objects or body parts.<ref>Fuller, R. C., Houle, D., & Travis, J. 2005. ''Sensory Bias as an Explanation for the Evolution of Mate Preferences.'' [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/444443 Abstract]], p. 444</ref> For example, women's breasts may have evolved to mimic their buttocks because the latter was already a sexually attractive body part before humans developed upright posture, and then Fisherian runaway may have lead to breasts becoming increasingly larger and increasingly attractive to men. | ||
=== Beauty === | |||
Feedback loops like Fisherian runaway may have played a role in the evolution of beauty. Beauty could have evolved simply by sexual selection, i.e. mate selection favoring objective [[beauty]] (simplicity). But feedback loops as mentioned above may have exaggerated aspects of it, leading to increased sexual dimorphism and amplified and narrowed the attraction to specific kinds of beautiful physical traits. This also stabilizes the phenotype, making it harder to adapt to environmental changes. Any sort of [[sexual dimorphism]], whether behavioral or ornamental likely tends to get reinforced by such feedback loops because [[sexual dimorphism]] is inherently attractive.<ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill#Even_chickens_prefer_sexually_dimorphic_human_faces.2C_to_the_same_extent_as_humans</ref> | |||
=== Sexy son hypothesis === | === Sexy son hypothesis === | ||
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{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXrkgPgt234|frame|}} | {{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXrkgPgt234|frame|}} | ||
== | ==Criticism== | ||
===Good Genes Hypothesis=== | |||
Also called ''Zahavi's handicap principle'', this claims the exaggerated ornament is a costly and hence a reliable signal of other desirable traits. For example, a peacock with a very large tail would be easy prey (which is costly), and thus would most likely have other good traits that make up for this handicap (good genes). There is, however, little supporting scientific evidence. In humans in particular, beauty and ornament is not strongly correlated with health at all (those it is weakly), and even less with cognitive ability.<ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill#Attractive_people_are_perceived_much_more_positively_than_they_really_are</ref> | |||
=== Is human female mate choice maladaptive? | ===Environmental factors and extinction=== | ||
Base sexual preference of an entire species can make them more likely to go extinct.<ref>https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12601</ref><ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691875/</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411131646.htm</ref><ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04059-7</ref> But the runaway selection of the most exaggerated members alone, arguably cannot cause the entire species to go extinct. However, together with environmental factors, runaway female selection has played a role in extinction, for example in the the Irish Elk.<ref>The evolution of sexual strategy in modern humans: an interdisciplinary approach by Collins, Kendra Marie, https://studyres.com/doc/2550939/--california-state-university</ref><ref>Moen et al., 1999</ref> | |||
There are scientific models that show under a stable environment, a feedback loop can develop where male intrasexual competition leads to a linear increase in size dimorphism, outstripping the ability of the environment to to support this increased size.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/stable/2410506</ref> | |||
== Is human female mate choice maladaptive? == | |||
Various members of the [[MRA]] hypothesized that the increasingly dimorphic beauty standards that men are expected to have just to get a date in a sexually liberated online [[dating]] environment may be the beginning of a Fisherian runaway or intensification of existing ones. Only a very small percentage of men are being chosen, and it's the men with the most sexually dimorphic traits: cartoonishly large muscles and frame, with no selective attention paid to traits like loyalty, intelligence, etc. | Various members of the [[MRA]] hypothesized that the increasingly dimorphic beauty standards that men are expected to have just to get a date in a sexually liberated online [[dating]] environment may be the beginning of a Fisherian runaway or intensification of existing ones. Only a very small percentage of men are being chosen, and it's the men with the most sexually dimorphic traits: cartoonishly large muscles and frame, with no selective attention paid to traits like loyalty, intelligence, etc. | ||
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Research on sexual selection theory by Puts (2010) suggested women's preference for highly dominant men may have partly been a result of sexual selection.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418825.2016.1216153?journalCode=rjqy20</ref><ref>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.02.005</ref> | Research on sexual selection theory by Puts (2010) suggested women's preference for highly dominant men may have partly been a result of sexual selection.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418825.2016.1216153?journalCode=rjqy20</ref><ref>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.02.005</ref> | ||
<gallery mode="packed" widths="400" heights="400"> | <gallery mode="packed" widths="400" heights="400"> | ||
File:Gigachad500.jpg|Typical human male after 500 years of unconstrained female sexuality | File:Gigachad500.jpg|Typical human male after 500 years of unconstrained female sexuality | ||