What about the boys who can’t or don’t have these experiences...
They fail to reproduce, presumably. Genetics and evolution are a harsh mistress. Is there some reason to think that males that do not find a mate should get some sort of assistance? Perhaps for them, 40 is the “appropriate age”.
I think I could make a fairly strong case that anyone who is not capable of talking to peers of both sexes and learning the right social cues to find a mate is probably someone also poorly equipped to take care of the results of finding that mate in the first place, namely a relationship and children. And—that’s fine, viva la difference—a nice thing about being an intelligent human being is that you are not necessarily constrained in your behavior by what might be best from the standpoint of genetics and survival of the species.
They fail to reproduce, presumably. Genetics and evolution are a harsh mistress. Is there some reason to think that males that do not find a mate should get some sort of assistance? Perhaps for them, 40 is the “appropriate age”.
The fact that we appear to selecting against traits like intelligence.
Given that most males in our current society (and, indeed, a significant fraction of females) seem to try to delay or indefinitely postpone reproduction—sometimes failing to do so - it doesn’t seem that failure to reproduce is a driver of behavioral modification.
They fail to reproduce, presumably. Genetics and evolution are a harsh mistress. Is there some reason to think that males that do not find a mate should get some sort of assistance? Perhaps for them, 40 is the “appropriate age”.
I think I could make a fairly strong case that anyone who is not capable of talking to peers of both sexes and learning the right social cues to find a mate is probably someone also poorly equipped to take care of the results of finding that mate in the first place, namely a relationship and children. And—that’s fine, viva la difference—a nice thing about being an intelligent human being is that you are not necessarily constrained in your behavior by what might be best from the standpoint of genetics and survival of the species.
The fact that we appear to selecting against traits like intelligence.
Given that most males in our current society (and, indeed, a significant fraction of females) seem to try to delay or indefinitely postpone reproduction—sometimes failing to do so - it doesn’t seem that failure to reproduce is a driver of behavioral modification.