Why haven't ugly people been weeded out of the gene pool if we reproduce by natural selection?

[Hyped_up_on_coffee]

In Life Science my teacher said that animals and humans reproduce by natural selection so that all of the animals who are either slow, week or considered unattractive in the case of humans? So I asked her why haven't the ugly people been weeded out of the gene pool, and she said that everyone even ugly people found some one to have sex with and that they just had sex in the dark... which I think is a very weird answer for a college professor. So why do you think ugly people haven't been weeded out of the gene pool?

[craig_lyon80]

What one person sees as attractive, may not be impressive to another, Human beings are all unique and we are not attracted to one another solely by how we look. That may be the initial attraction but what makes people connect enough right up to the reprodcution stage is largely dependant on personality. This means that looks are irrelevant to some extent and we reproduce for love and how we feel about that person on the inside and not their superficial looks on the outside.

There is also another conception that two people with the stereotype of "perfect bodies" will naturally reproduce the same. This is not always the case as reproduction is dependant on a number of factors such as environment, diet and lifestyle. This is true both of the parents and the child as it is born. If we produce a child with naturally healthy genes and they go out and eat junkfood and drink and smoke then they will not stay that way for long!

The other point of this is, why would we want to all be "perfect". It would be boring and unnatural and I for one would hate it. What we should really be asking is if we can choose who to reproduce with then why have we not weeded out all the liars and cheats and con artists out there. The answer is very similar...The parents are not always responsible for how the child turns out as an adult, as it can be down to society and their lifestyle choice as to how they behave as people. I would say just let us all be who we are and appreciate each other for our own unique characteristics!

[Desires]

Ugly people have sex with each other.

[38rakia38]

Maybe their appearance isn't great but maybe their sweat smelled appealing to a female (we pick men based off smell, mostly from their sweat which lets us know that their immunity is different to ours, making for a better baby) or they had better hunting skills or providing skills. Maybe though they were ugly, they had high status.

There's more than just 1 reason that natural selection happens, it's based off a variety of factors. Natural selection basically says "better genes = better chances of mating". Really has nothing to do with appearance, though it does have a bit of a factor in mating.

[Anonymous]

because people are still having sex with ugly people and they're reproducing. 2 ugly people end up finding each other and produce offspring. also how do you know there haven't been many ugly people in the past who have been weeded out of the gene pool? you wouldn't know because they are long gone and didn't make any kids lol

[lace1228]

maybe because one that is ugly to one person might be beautiful to someone else, as beauty is only in the eye of the beholder.

[peace-love-couture]

Ugly and beauty are subjective, what's ugly to one isn't ugly to another. And even then, regardless of how fugly a girl is in particular, she'll always be able to pull some desperate guy

[Capoeria_King]

Physical attractiveness is one of many factors that contributes to a person's overall mating potential. You can't base the process of natural selection strictly on that one element. For example an ugly man can certainly overcome his looks if he attains wealth. Status and money(especially when it comes to men) play just as important a role as looks in the natural selection process if not more important. As a matter of fact the reason men tend to naturally be aggressive, is because women prefer them that way, the men who lacked aggression didn't mate and eventually their genes died off. You can see that right here on this website the guys who are scared to approach women generally don't meet women and if you're not meeting any women you can't reproduce with them. Women tend to have hour glass shaped or curvy bodies because throughout time men have preferred them that way although society does influence what body types are considered attractive. I think natural selection has definitley taken place over time you were just looking at it from a limited angle.

[NewYorkCity]

Well by definition Ugly what exactly do you mean? currently, we have 6.6 billion people on our planet. Out of 6.7 billion only 2.4 living in a good so called human conditions the rest is low class poverty, meaning underweight or overweight, sick people with disabilities due to lack of minerals sterilizes environment or healthy food. So what you saying is that those 4.2 billion people must be weeded out? a.k.a. killed, murdered? Now another point, who is not ugly? have you ever met a PERFECT person who was solid 10? because solid 10 is not ugly but everything below 10 is, so the rest of people who is below 10 well yeeee... freak of nature. In that case we have to weed out 99.99% of all our population. NICE...

[Ugliness]

If recessive ugly genes are derived from attractive people then it's hard to keep them out.

That includes me.

It also appears that humanity has a certain degree of immunity to natural selection.

[helppmeeee]

Because what you may think is ugly, someone else may find attractive therefore they have sex and reproduce.

[Stud101]

Ugly men and Ugly women are attracted to each other so ugly people will always find a way to stay around. You may think someone is ugly, but another person may think otherwise and might actually be attracted to the person.

Basically, ugly is a relative word, meaning people who are ugly to you, may be "hot" to others. So no one is really ugly.

[foolycooly1001]

ugly women can bang drunk guys, and women will f*** rich, ugly guys. not to mention, just because poor traits aren't selected for, doesn't mean they don't naturally occur at random.

[Levin]

I'm surprised that no one was able to answer this properly. Actually, it's a bit of a misconception that natural selection results in the 'strongest' surviving and thus propagating their genes. It's more the case that those who are best adapted to their environment flourish. Subtle difference, but important. And I'm sure in reality best adapted usually means strongest. Ugly people presumably have some other qualities that helped them procreate. Hence why there's some debate about whether social policies here desirable. Given that those who have what we as a society would regard as favourable characteristics tend to get a career and put off having children, where as those on benefits, do plenty of shagging, naturally resulting in abundant sprog-sprouting from these dirty proles.

Actually I lied, there's no mainstream debate. It's just something I thought about.

Also as a product of a shoddy British public education system, I don't really know much about natural selection. Although I'm pretty sure what I said is right.

[Mescaline]

Yes you are right. ^^ I seem to agree with you a lot haha, Coincidence we chose the same personality type? ;b

[hALLDAY]

link

Pretty interesting read. To add to that, "ugly" people can still pass on their genes with other "ugly" people.

[0ddjob]

There is also the fact that guys have to be aroused to have sex. All the girl has to be is willing.

And sadly, in some cases, not even that.

[0ddjob]

Go hang out at a Wal-Mart for a few hours & you'll see the answer to your question.

Homely guys find homely girls and make FLKs.

[funkadelic5]

Ugly people haven't been ruled out of the gene pool because a lot of aspects of ugly people have very little to do with their genetics. Genetic expression is actually very dependent on your health nutrition growing as a child/teenager. If you have a good life and good nutrition you tend to grow to become more, well, sexually developed and attractive as an adult. Looks are also highly subjective. Yes, some people are born a little ugly, but MOST people, if they work at exercising and eating right, proper grooming, and just keeping themselves looking their best, would actually be quite attracitve. Its 90% the choices in life that bring you down from that. Genetics doesn't play the whole role. And actually I would argue, I think it HAS been getting weeded out. I'm quite sure I heard somewhere that average height has increased dramatically over the last hundred years or so, and I believe that breast size has increased too.

[lolli]

Sometimes good looking people have sex with ugly people and the baby comes out like the ugly one.

[bunny420]

Nice anime pic.

[seemyhemi]

Beer!!!

Oh, you know I’m right! LOL

[Mescaline]

The answer is quite simple and has been stated in different terms already I think.

Human natural selection does not solely depend on physical attractiveness, but on how well an organism is able to adapt to its environment, as Levin already stated. Thus in our modern world, money is a big plus (sadly; in my opinion capitalism ruins human nature; it creates competition instead of cooperation. The whole point of capitalism is to motivate people by making them compete.. but, sorry, I digress, that's beside the point now), charisma is also very important I'd say (of course this partly depends on physical appearance, but not solely), and, similar to charisma, personality in general plays a key-role in finding a mate. Moreover depending on what country you grow up in, you might have a lower chance to reproduce, or cultures might differ in how many children one 'takes'. (I'm actually not completely sure about this influencing natural selection, but it doesn't seem that far fetched to me, when looking at the big picture, and I'm too tired now to think it through (2am)). There are probably even more features that play a role in natural selection in humans, but ye.. too tired now to think of any.

Anyway, what my college professor lectured, is that physical appearance is actually playing a continuously smaller role in natural selection as time goes on, and is focusing more and more on financial and social success. I think your professor has to take some lectures himself to adjust, or rather correct, his ideas ;)

[Anonymous]

because men choose to breed with less toan attractive women I don't know why. they enjoy to have sex for pleasure with attractive women, and breed with the unattractive ones.

[Anonymous]

This is quite an interesting question , indeed, but I have the answer! I believe that it is because unlike animals who mostly follow instincts we, as humans, have free will. In the case of animals it is happening, whereas with us it is not.

The reason being for this that humans choose to mate with each other for different reasons other than purely physical appearance. Some of these things include personality of the person, such as funniness etc, sadly, wealth of a person, and, when under the influence of a drug like alcohol, our reasoning to make decisions is different. We are not controlled by our instincts or urges unlike animals.

Sure, we definitely find girls who are skinny, have large breasts, clear skin, etc attractive and we certainly wouldn't mind getting with them, but there are other things that change who we choose to mate with. Even if the male population did try and follow natural selection, we would be looked upon by society as 'shallow' and someone who only gets with a partner based on their appearance. How society views us also changes our decisions.