From: "Tim Rhodes" <proftim@speakeasy.org>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Parody of Science
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 15:10:26 -0700
Derek wrote:
>So why, then did those at the top of the social ladder, those who had
>previously had a survival/reproductive advantage in addition to an
economic
>one, enter demographic transition and commit evolutionary suicide?
The question seems be framed as, "Why did the upper classes have fewer
children?" when you could just as easily (and more productivley, I think)
ask, "What advantage allowed the agricultural farmers of 1911 to have an
average of 1.6 more children than their counterparts in the upper classes?"
And the answer to that question is simple: On a farm, children = free labor
= reduced farming costs = smaller net outlay of resources per child overall.
(In other words, "Farm kids earn their keep.")
-Tim Rhodes
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit