Polygyny and Inheritance of Wealth

THE HYPOTHESIS to be tested here, that humans tend to transmit wealth to male descendants where polygyny is possible (Dr. Arbuthnott’s assertions notwithstanding), follows from considering the difference in within-sex variance in reproductive success between males and females (Darwin 1859, 1871) and the fact that in polygynous societies multiple wives are acquired by men who can afford them.

Paternity and Inheritance of Wealth

One of the oldest conjectures in anthropology is that men transfer wealth to their sister’s son when the biological paternity of their ‘own’ children is in doubt. Because maternity is certain, a man is necessarily related to his sister’s son and his brother. It is argued in this paper that relatedness to make heirs can be assured by passing wealth to sister’s sons or down a line of brothers matrilineally or patrilineally.

Matrilineal Inheritance

This paper explores a new analysis of previously published data showing a strong association between matrilineal inheritance and moderate to low probability of paternity, and an even stronger relationship between patrilineal inheritance and high probability of paternity.

Imagine Forever: a no-heaven reason to be good

Once upon a time, not so long ago, and not very far away, a farmer imagined having a cow that he could feed and milk forever. A cow like that, he reckoned, would enable both ...

Putin’s Winning Hand

Imagine Putin as a poker player who knows that he has the winning hand – deployable, nuclear capable, hypersonic missiles. The United States does not have them and cannot intercept them.   Bullets fired by most ...

[Arabic] Thou Shall Not Kill…Whom?

يعتقد أغلب المسيحيين واليهود أن الكتاب المقدس ينهاهم عن قتل الناس، أما الصهاينة فهم يدركون أن وصية “لا تقتل” لا تشمل كل الناس، وإنما هي أمر إلهي للمؤمنين بألا يقتلوا بعضهم فقط. إن هذا التفسير ...

Love Thy Neighbor : The Evolution of In-Group Morality

The world’s major religions espouse a moral code that includes injunctions against murder, theft, and lying – or so conventional 19th- and 20th-century Western wisdom would have it. Evidence put forth here argues that this convention is a conceit which does not apply to the West’s own religious foundations.

A Eugenic Effect of Medical Care

Abstract When sophisticated medical attention substantially increases the life expectancy of individuals with a severe homozygous condition without significantly raising their reproductive success, an increase in parental investment should render a concomitant decrease in parental ...

Passover: Read Thoughtfully

Long before The Holocaust, Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) urged readers to consider the Passover story’s backstory – the enslavement of Egyptians that preceded the enslavement of Jews. He used the word ‘corner’ in the ...