Homosexuality is good for population control, and hence promoted.
There is a caste system - which is the grand illusion we are the BEHAVE - I mean BEEHIVE
Quote:
Only by conceiving of evolution as acting upon entire populations rather than individual organisms can we understand eusociality -- the mysterious, seemingly "altruistic" behaviors exhibited by insects who forego reproduction in order to care for a colony's young.
So says Edward O. Wilson, the legendary sociobiologist, environmentalist and entomologist, in an article published in the January issue of Bioscience. Wilson doesn't extrapolate from bugs to people, but his conclusions raise fascinating questions about the evolutionary aspects of non-reproducing humans.
Observed in some species of ants, bees and wasps, eusociality has perplexed researchers unable to explain -- in traditionally evolutionary terms, at least -- how entire insect castes could have evolved not merely to refrain from reproducing, but to care for genetically distant larva.
Wilson discussed eusociality in his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, which jumpstarted the field of modern sociobiology by connecting complex behaviors to evolutionary trends. He explained the phenomenon as one of kin selection: evolution didn't act on individuals, but groups of closely related individuals.
However, says Wilson, new findings make kin selection an incomplete explanation. He points to the emergence of eusociality in insect species that don't possess haplodiploidy, a mechanism of sex selection that makes females more genetically similar to their sisters than their offspring. If kin selection drove eusociality, then it should have emerged primarily in these species. Moreover, most haplodiploid species are not eusocial.
Wilson thinks eusociality evolved as a group-level adaptation for out-competing other insect colonies for food: with some colony members devoted to protecting eggs and larva, others could forage farther abroad. All that's needed to take this evolutionary step is the rise of a gene -- or system of genes -- that makes workers want to stay home and help rather than leave the colony and reproduce elsewhere.
The theory is far from settled. No such allele has been identified, and theoretical biologists haven't been able to model it. Bert Hoelldobler, an Arizona State University entomologist and co-author with Wilson of a recent book on ants, said in an email that his friend "is mistaken when he uses low degree of relatedness in highly advanced eusocial systems as evidence for the insignificance of relatedness for the evolution of eusociality."
All this debate might seem like an academic diversion, but for the incredible success of eusocial species. "While only 2% of known insect species are eusocial," writes Wilson, "these species comprise most of the insect biomass." While one has to be careful in drawing early conclusions and then applying them to people, it's clear that in some ways this cooperative system, so much more subtle than the classically self-centered Darwinian ideal, is extraordinarily successful.
So with all necessary caveats against reductionism and misappropriation, we can ask: should human societies conceive of themselves in terms of group-level selection? Have we already developed aspects of eusociality? And -- just to make matters really interesting -- could non-reproducing humans, such as (most) gays and lesbians, as well as heterosexuals who choose not to have kids, actually be a manifestation of this emergent eusociality?
Citing eusociality in defense of any lifestyle choice, even theoretically, could backfire: it implies a subservience of individual well-being to the greater good. But at least it suggests that certain unorthodox lifestyles might not be so "unnatural" after all.
I think its triggered, we all have the capacity to be gay, all those guys in Jail are not gay, if this was true that would mean all guys are criminals.
Well of course that is not true, the close proximity to other men 24/ 7 will make humans adapt there own behaviour, same with women, there not all lesbians by birth, it is trigger by some event or just biologically at a very young age, I think its possible for RNA to be triggered to help us enjoy and behave with one another.
If a mother wants a boy in her womb and the baby is physically a girl, will this affect the baby? imprinting a male onto the body of a girl? and vice versa
Its a reasonable idea.
Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:40 am
imamonstertruck VIP
Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 519 Location: Louisville KY
Gay animals out of the closet?
First-ever museum display shows 51 species exhibiting homosexuality
By Sara Goudarzi
LiveScience staff writer
updated 3:46 p.m. ET, Thurs., Nov. 16, 2006
From male killer whales that ride the dorsal fin of another male to female bonobos that rub their genitals together, the animal kingdom tolerates all kinds of lifestyles.
A first-ever museum display, "Against Nature?," which opened last month at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum in Norway, presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality.
"Homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species, and the phenomenon has been well described for 500 of them," said Petter Bockman, project coordinator of the exhibition.
The idea, however, is rarely discussed in the scientific community and is often dismissed as unnatural because it doesn't appear to benefit the larger cause of species continuation.
"I think to some extent people don't think it's important because we went through all this time period in sociobiology where everything had to be tied to reproduction and reproductive success," said Linda Wolfe, who heads the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University. "If it doesn't have [something to do] with reproduction it's not important."
For pleasure
However, species continuation may not always be the ultimate goal, as many animals, including humans, engage in sexual activities more than is necessary for reproduction.
"You can make up all kinds of stories: Oh it's for dominance, it's for this, it's for that, but when it comes down to the bottom I think it's just for sexual pleasure," Wolfe told LiveScience.
Conversely, some argue that homosexual sex could have a bigger natural cause than just pure pleasure: namely evolutionary benefits.
Copulation could be used for alliance and protection among animals of the same sex. In situations when a species is mostly bisexual, homosexual relationships allow an animal to join a pack.
"In bonobos for instance, strict heterosexual individuals would not be able to make friends in the flock and thus never be able to breed," Bockman told LiveScience. "In some bird species that bond for life, homosexual pairs raise young. If they are females, a male may fertilize their eggs. If they are males, a solitary female may mate with them and deposit her eggs in their nest."
Mom and Dad and Dad
Almost a quarter of black swan families are parented by homosexual couples. Male couples sometimes mate with a female just to have a baby. Once she lays the egg, they chase her away, hatch the egg, and raise a family on their own.
"Homosexuality" and "heterosexuality" are terms defined by societal boundaries, invisible in the animal kingdom.
"Many species are hermaphrodites," Bockman said. Hermaphrodites have both male and female sex organs. A lot of marine species have no sex life at all, but just squirt their eggs or semen into sea.
Some creatures even reproduce asexually, by dividing themselves into two organisms. In one species of gecko, females clone themselves.
Like most complex issues, animal homosexuality is challenging and poorly understood. Therefore, educators tend to shy away from covering it in their teaching. Many scientists don't even want to be associated with this type of research.
"I've had primatologists offer to give me their data on homosexual behavior because they didn't want to publish it," Wolfe said.
"Against Nature?" was set up partly to demystify the concept.
The argument that a homosexual way of living cannot be accepted because it is against the "laws of nature" can now be rejected scientifically, said Geir Soli, project leader for the exhibition. "A main target for this project was to get museums involved in current debate; to show that museums are more than just a gallery for the past."
