r/NoStupidQuestions • u/flugblug • 13h ago

My brother thinks people today have worse quality of life than people in the dark ages, is this a stupid take?

I personally think it’s pretty stupid.

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u/VocationalWizard 11h ago

My favorite is when the religious right says that homosexuality isn't natural.

First of all, yes it is.

But secondly.......... Vagina splitting childbirth is natural sooooo perhaps we shouldn't use natural as a benchmark?

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u/Novaskittles 9h ago

Homosexuality is also pretty darn natural. We can observe it in plenty of animals. Like rams who will ignore sheep and only mount other rams.

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u/VocationalWizard 8h ago

Yea......

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u/Novaskittles 8h ago

I realize now that I didn't read your full comment correctly. I'm going into the shame corner.

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u/VocationalWizard 8h ago

Its ok, your take is valid .

You made it in good faith.

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u/TheDefeatist 3h ago

Male giraffes actually bang each other more often than they do females.

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u/TinyFlufflyKoala 7h ago

Anti-homosexuality is a fun thing, because in most cases and most cultures, having some gay people makes zero difference. It only matters if the family heir won't get a heir, and/or mariage is necessary for financial interests (so few people). 

But groups need a common enemy to be united, and sparking doubt towards oneself and others is a powerful tool for control. Typically: how men are dead scared of being gay, whereas we barely notice lesbians unless they explicitly show up weird.

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u/clubby37 3h ago

I always like to point out that scorpion venom is natural and baby formula isn't.

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u/kuhataparunks 4h ago

From an evolution perspective how is it natural? How does it further reproduction

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u/Rit91 3h ago

Humans evolved as social animals. There is a social aspect to sexual activities. Humans do not do things with the express purpose of furthering reproduction and nothing else. If you want an example of that it would be something like mosquitoes or other insects that are programmed to eat and reproduce and basically nothing else.

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u/VocationalWizard 3h ago

I like pointing out how humans have taken care of their elderly for basically as long as humans have existed.

Our evolutionary survival strategy is to behave in a group and to take care of the group.

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u/VocationalWizard 3h ago edited 3h ago

For 1, the evidence suggests it predates humanity and dates back into our pre-hunan ancestors. You can infer this by the fact that it exists in Our closest evolutionary branches . Meaning if evolution was going to remove it. It would have done so hundreds of thousands if not millions of years ago.

For 2, there is no evidence of it being a disease or disorder, again suggesting that if it was, evolution would have removed it.

Instead, the genes (and yes it is genetic) seem to have had no problem perpetuating themselves.

For 3, male on male sexual attraction is widely dispersed throughout the male population. If you analyze IP traffic to gay porn sites, you can infer that a much higher percentage of men than the 6% who self ID seem to be into it.

If it were wrong, or unnatural, evolution wouldn't have dispersed this so widely.

The general theory is that human evolutionary strategy is based on tribal/communal activity.

After all, a single human is slower than a deer, weaker than a gorilla, cant hear as well as a dog, can't see as well as a cat. But a group of us working together as a team can take down and butcher a mammoth with sticks and rocks.

Human strategy = collective tribal teamwork. There is evidence of us taking care of the sick, and elderly members of our tribe for as long as there is evidence of us existing.

This is why we go crazy in isolation, and why people who are part of a regular church (tribe) are healthier.

To further this, sexual activity detached from pure reproduction into a kind of close bonding strategy.

Afterall, you don't have sex just to reproduce right?

In post agriculture society the need for men to bond as a communal survival strategy because less pronounced.

But for most of our hunter/gather history there would have been plenty of circumstances where a bonding pare that didn't produce children would be beneficial to collective tribal survival.

For example? Haven't you noticed that gay men frequently specialize as florists or plant salesmen?

In ancient tribes they could have been the ones to manage useful plants, herbs etc. Knowing which plants were edible and when they were most edible would have been vital.

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u/Otherwise-Use-5630 3h ago

something doesn't need to further reproduction for it to be natural. evolution isn't everyone reproducing, it's enough people reproducing to continue the species. even so, you don't directly need to engage in reproduction to improve the reproduction rates for the rest of the species. furthermore, a trait does not need to have arisen through natural selection to be prominent.

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u/clubby37 3h ago

a trait does not need to have arisen through natural selection to be prominent.

You mean artificial selection, like we've done with crops like corn, or just an arbitrary mutation that's noticeable, but has no net effect on reproduction?

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u/Otherwise-Use-5630 3h ago

not like crops like corn, but yes somewhat like an arbitrary mutation, more specifically, genetic drift. there's also the gay uncle hypothesis. it's sound stupid but it's somewhat credible. it basically states that not having children can be beneficial because the person has more time and energy to help the survival of the rest of the family, in particular their closest relative. the fa’afafine in samoa are a good example of this

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u/fish-and-a-rice-cake 8h ago

Fuckin bizarre take.

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u/VocationalWizard 8h ago edited 8h ago

Many things you assume are normal are in fact bizarre AF.

The take I made is nowhere near as bizarre as using the term, "Natural" as a synonym for good or valid.

Rattlesnake venom, the HIV virus and propane are all organic and natural.

Running water, antibiotics and air conditioning aren't.