I should have added more context—the expression “more highly evolved” seems to pop up dismayingly often when talking about poly (and often bisexuality, too). I have long thought it seems to rely on notions of tribal Othering and the Geek Social Fallacies when used by poly people, but curiously it can also used by mono people being dismissive of poly.
It is so common a poly fail that if there were TV Tropes for poly, “More Highly Evolved” would be heavily referenced.
i.e. quite apart from it being arguably improper use of the term, it’s objectionable for other reasons.
I tend to groan at just about any use of the phrase “More Highly Evolved” as applicable to humans.
If the phrase means anything, it would mean something like “is in a line of descent that
has been through more rounds of Darwinian selection than some reference line”.
And since bacteria can reproduce in ~20 minutes, and it takes humans ~20 years, the
winner of that comparison is going to be in the former group, not the latter.
It is so common a poly fail that if there were TV Tropes for poly, “More Highly Evolved” would be heavily referenced.
Wait, there isn’t? That surprises me.
...
Yes there is. More than one. In fact, I expect there are pages for most of the common poly-graph combinations and potential drama producing failure modes. Tegmark needs a whole new ’verse for TvTropes concept space.
I should have added more context—the expression “more highly evolved” seems to pop up dismayingly often when talking about poly (and often bisexuality, too). I have long thought it seems to rely on notions of tribal Othering and the Geek Social Fallacies when used by poly people, but curiously it can also used by mono people being dismissive of poly.
It is so common a poly fail that if there were TV Tropes for poly, “More Highly Evolved” would be heavily referenced.
i.e. quite apart from it being arguably improper use of the term, it’s objectionable for other reasons.
I tend to groan at just about any use of the phrase “More Highly Evolved” as applicable to humans. If the phrase means anything, it would mean something like “is in a line of descent that has been through more rounds of Darwinian selection than some reference line”. And since bacteria can reproduce in ~20 minutes, and it takes humans ~20 years, the winner of that comparison is going to be in the former group, not the latter.
Wait, there isn’t? That surprises me.
...
Yes there is. More than one. In fact, I expect there are pages for most of the common poly-graph combinations and potential drama producing failure modes. Tegmark needs a whole new ’verse for TvTropes concept space.
Heh. I was thinking of an entire site devoted to poly tropes. But now you have me considering what that would look like.