Yes, a new term only a Quanologist could come up with. GPP - Genetic Proliferation Potential. GPP is a variable which obviously denotes an individual’s potential in genetic proliferation. For those of you just joining us, here’s a bit of background.

As nature sees it, we are here to pass on our genes. There are different ways to do this - some men sleep around, some men are loyal fathers, some women seek the support of multiple men, and some women seek out one man for a long-term relationship. It’s all part of the Universe. But in this quest for genetic proliferation, some are better equipped than others. It would be silly to imagine a race involving everyone on the planet and thinking they all have the exact same chance of winning. The fact is, some people are born with a higher potential for genetic proliferation than others, BUT the good news is that people can develop a higher potential within their lifetimes. So, your GPP is not stable but varies from time to time.

What are the factors?
Again, for those of you who are new to Quanology, evolution works on different levels. Biologically we pass on our genes directly through our offspring, and indirectly through our genetic relatives. Culturally we can pass on our genes on a slightly vaguer, those more expansive level, by our thoughts, beliefs, and cultural and technical contributions. Therefore, our ability to breed, to parent, to care for our relatives, and to contribute to society all factor into our GPP. And what attributes are therefore necessary to accomplish these things.

No man is an island. It is often hard to say where one individual ends and another begins. It would be all too simplistic to think we function alone in the world. I’m sitting on a train right now built by someone else and driven by someone else. The laptop I’m typing on was made in some far off land in a factory by a group of workers. But these things are tied to me right now. They are at my disposal and I use them to my own devices. They are not a part of me physically, but they contribute to my effectiveness on this planet, ie my genetic proliferation. We will also use the term “resources” to describe anything which is available to an individual for his/her use.

Resources can be anything. These are all considered resources:

• physical attractiveness
• physical strength
• athleticism
• money
• property
• family
• ideas
• power
• psychological capacity (ie, consciousness, awareness, creativity, rationalization, perspective, positivism, etc)
• intelligence (in the traditional sense)
• talents
• mind set (ie, drive, motivation, confidence, etc)
• knowledge
• skills
• social standing & personal network
• technical ability
• artistic ability

All these things should be seen as resources since all contribute to genetic proliferation. Somethings may help out more in certain environments, so obviously a person can have a higher GPP in one environment than in another environment. In the western world, for instance, artistic ability can get you further than say, in the Middle East. So the weighted sum of your resources in relation to the characteristics of your surroundings adds up to be your GPP. The cool thing is, GPP is passed on and developed over generations, just as genes themselves are. Raising your knowledge on a certain subject should improve your children’s chances of also being knowledgeable on that subject. Making the investment to increase your knowledge is similar to putting money in the bank to let it be passed on down to future generations (and it’s not taxed!). Of course, somehow lowering your resource level in some area will also be passed on. Squander $1 million in your lifetime and it obviously cannot be passed down to future generations. Squandering a good mind set in your lifetime will similarly ensure that a good mind set will not be passed down to your children.

The moral of this story? Realize that resources are all around you and you have many different means to help you be successful. And be conscious of the fact that everything you do is an investment in your resources and as with any investment, there is potential gain and potential loss. Both will be passed down the genetic ladder.

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Everywhere you look there are people underachieving, living dreary lives, or just not living the life they want to live. So why aren’t they? In the age we live in, there should be no excuse.  There is one example after another of someone whose life has quickly gone from crappiest to happiest. Here are the 4 reasons why people aren’t getting the good stuff.  

1. They don’t really want them
Ask people what they want in life and they tell you all kinds of standard things: a cool job, lots of money, good friends, plenty of free time, and good relationships. Dig a little deeper and you might find they don’t really want the things they say they want. Money often means hard work and hassles. Good relationships require intimacy which itself require a whole lot of honesty and openness - something many people subconsciously or consciously avoid. A cool job will require initiative, potential insecurity and maybe even a lackluster salary. It’s the same in all cases - one part of you wants something but another part knows of a possible downside and keeps you from going after it.

2. They don’t know/believe they exist
You can’t do or have something if you don’t know it exists. A happy family life? Indeed many of us have been sold the notion that all families fight and all kids hate their parents. ‘Tis not so. Happy families do exist but unless you know this, you will never set out to get it. Recently, I’ve had to get up early for work and there’s a little voice inside me that says I should be tired. If my body doesn’t feel tired, then there is a dissonance - one part saying I should feel tired and another part saying I feel pretty good. Eventually the first part tells the second part to shut up. It thinks waking up at 5:30 and feeling good isn’t possible. It’s only when I present it to myself as a possibility that I can actually feel good that early. A good part of the wellness movement must be geared to educating the public of the existence of these “products”. We are confronted more and more with evidence that every human experience can be reproduced and we are not limited in taking some person’s good reality and making it our own. The first step in getting something is dropping the idea that something is impossible for you. “Easier said than done”, you say? Drop the idea that it’s easier said than done… It really is just like a light switch but you first have to drop the idea that it’s impossible that changing your life is easy. Get it?

3. They don’t believe they can/should have them
I saw an interview with Tom Cruise once (ok, it was on Oprah) where he said he used to believe that the life he lives was for “other people” and it was the point that he changed that belief at allowed him to actually live it himself. Many people feel subconsciously unworthy of having good things in life and surrender to not even trying to get them. Lots of money, a good job, a partner who treats them well - you see on a constant basis people all around settling for the things they subconsciously think they deserve. Belief systems are all-powerful. Everyone beliefs something different and you see that all combinations are possible and that all belief systems lead to their eventual reality - so feel free to choose the one you want - not the one you think belongs to you.

4. They don’t know how to get them
And just sometimes you might find all the other three points are ready and waiting but you just don’t know how to get them - how to break the patterns that dictate your behaviors or how to find and approach the mate you want or how to get the job that’s perfect for you. And that’s what human technology (psychology, self-help, personal development, GTD, etc) is all about.

Now what?
What’s so great about the age we live in is that there is a whole army of experts who dedicate their lives to these 4 points. If people don’t know about this army and what they do, they’ll never look for it. But they do exist and they can work wonders. Try and think of these 4 points in relation to your life and what’s holding you back from getting more of the good stuff. Don’t feel like thinking about it? Maybe you think it won’t lead anywhere? That’s kind of my point.

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Often pain and frustration are the womb of progress. Since pain and frustration are undesired states, it is natural that men will push to leave them. “It is always darkest before the dawn” they say. This is just that people cannot stand the “darkness” and so are inspired to invent light. Notice in history that so much good was preceded by so much bad. Personally, Quanology comes out of the frustration not having a proper definition of a life science - not that that’s so horrible…

“How should we live our lives?” “Where is the manual for this car?” There seem to be many sciences which explain so many facets of the universe and humanity but none which attempt to study how humans should best live on this planet. Many people would argue that there is no one way to live well, and they would be right. But what I hope to do is to shed light on why things are the way they are in hopes that people become more conscious of what they are actually doing and are better able to feel and decide what they want for themselves. Quanology is not here to tell people how they should live, but rather to increase their self-awareness and consciousness so that they can make better decisions themselves, and have a better understanding on how to take action once they decide.

Obviously the truth requires in depth investigation and the natural result of this is a series of specializations - all sort of next to each other with an occasional overlap between two and an occasional gap of unanswered questions between two. Quanology strives to unite all the specializations through a primarily high-level overview with the necessary references to the specialists who give the necessay substance to it all.

Psychology largely studies the human mind with little after-thought to how it is happiest and how to achieve such a state**. Philosophy does not… Self-help comes close but is continuously avoids scientific backings and lacks a underlying base. Religion attempts to but fails. Why? Because any science which attempts to look at how people should live must be treated as a technology. And technology is always changing and developing. Religion, by its traditional definition, does not change. Buddhism, for me, comes very close to a proper definition of how people should live, but slightly escapes this short-coming by its often vague and ambiguous conclusions. It too, though, is in need of some tweaking. Quanology is meant to unite various disciplines of science and direct them at a healthy human experience. I’ll be arrogant enough to call it a unified theory. So, let’s start at the very beginning.

A very good place to start
Science is layered. Every truth has a truth just below it which it must be based on. So, we go back now to the very first truth we (think we) know and we’ll build from there. Quanology assumes that The Universe was born with The Big Bang. Matter concentrated into a very small space and exploded. It has since been expanding - riding on the initial release of that explosion. The Universe is expanding and everything in it is expanding. Ultimately, this trend underscores every aspect of life. Once you understand it, you’ll see it everywhere.

Expanding and fitting
The details of this expansion are pretty interesting. If you drop a cup of water on the floor, you’ll witness an impact on the floor and the water shooting out in all directions. If the process of the water shooting out could be slowed down, you’d see an uneven dispertion of that water. Some side will have higher pressure and shoot farther and some will have lower pressure and remain closer to the initial point of impact. So, what you’ll get will not be a perfect circle around the point of impact, you’ll get a very uneven pattern. Whatever you get, you can conclude that the splashed water fit perfectly with its environment. Drop another cup of water and it too will fit perfectly with its environment. The same can be said for everything in The Universe - it is expanding and fitting in with its environment. This is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

Entropy
The definition most of us got in high school is “entropy is the amount of disorder in a system” and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy in a system is always increasing. The definition of entropy has since been clarified*. Entropy is now defined by scientists as the “dispersion of energy”. Seems to fit better with The Big Bang and the water falling on the floor. The Big Bang is the beginning of The Universe’s energy dispersal. Everything in The Universe is involved in energy dispersal or dissipation.

Evolution - Entropy for Living Things
If entropy is defined as increasing disorder, then Evolution presents a quandary. “Why is there this pocket of organization if the world is supposed to be increasing in disorder?” But when we see entropy as the trend to dissipate energy, then evolution fits in as simply “a great way to dissipate energy”. And indeed it is. Humans consider themselves highly evolved, and in this context we are: we contribute to the dissipation of more energy than any other species. Evolution is just a system for self-organizing beings to fit into their environment. To wrap your head around it, it’s best to look at it from a macro level. If the population of mosquitoes in a swamp seems to be getting quicker, then the frogs in the area will also get quicker in trying to catch them. The frogs are just fitting into their environment - much like the cup of water fit into its environment. The water did it by simply moving from a high-pressure environment to a low-pressure environment. The frogs do it by a similar mechanism, but much more complex. The low pressure in the environment when the water hit the ground, was the area around it - relative to the high pressure area which was where the water hit the ground. Low pressure areas can simply be seen as “areas of opportunity for energy dissipation”. Energy can be dissipated into areas of low energy. And that’s what’s going on in The Universe. With the mosquitoes and the frogs, the environment shifted. There was relatively high pressure when the mosquitoes were a certain speed and then it became low-pressure when they got quicker. So, the frogs evolve in the direction of the “area of opportunity for energy dissipation”. It’s a universal trend. It is the same when water hits the ground, when investors put money into interesting stocks, when they pull money out of uninteresting stocks, when men flock to pretty young women, when a tennis player wacks a “short ball” to finish off a point, when The Beatles are allowed to achieve God-like status in the world by the rise of media technology, when inventors devise the remote control for the people sick of having to get up to change the tv, when the food industry shifts from high calorie foods to health foods as the population gets exccesively obese…etc etc.

Evolution and you
Using evolution as the basis for life allows us to better understand ourselves and our motivations. Religion has tried to do this for some time now but its conclusions have never really been based on anything tangible or empirical. And you get the inconsistencies, the hypocrisies and the legions of dissatisfied members who demand a life manual with more footnotes. We love the spirituality but hate the gaps in logic. So, evolution can do all this for you. We can finally understand ourselves and our motivations by putting them in the evolutionary context. Understanding evolution then becomes the first step to understanding ourselves - and evolution is often misunderstood. Please have a look at Intro to Evolution for more details.

Quanology makes the simple assumption that we are happiest doing what is natural. And thereby spends lots of time and energy trying to find out what is natural for us - ie, what Nature wants for us. In the context of evolution and entropy, we conclude that Nature wants us to dissipate energy and to do it well. If we can see the parallels in our lives between what we do and how much energy we dissipate, we should find the keys to happiness and fulfillment. Depressed? Depression, in the context of Quanology, is not dissipating energy. It feels bad. Mania is when you dissipate lots of energy. It feels good. Get it? And that will be the goal of Quanology: providing the world with a blueprint for a happy life.

The Players
The world is a system and Quanology is attempting to thoroughly describe the system and your role in it. The following elements of the system or “players” have already been identified on a high level and will be further explored in the Quanological Journey.

Entropy- The Queen Bee. It is the top level element of the system. All other elements are simply a derivative of this one.

Evolution - The mechanism for energy dissipation of all living things. Of course, there are different kinds of evolution. Biological for individual members of a species, Cultural for groups of individuals. Read more on cultural evolution here.

Technology - Technology is simply evolution in pieces. If evolution is how things develop on a larger scale, then technology is just pockets of development. The TV industry evolves, but LCDs are one of the technologies. Everything that “does” or “happens” is a technology.

Energy - The currency of the system. It is what everything is composed of. Remember the Theory of Relativity? It’s really saying that mass and energy are interchangeable.

Dissipation - The universal trend to have energy move from places of high concentration to places of low concentration.

Decentralization - Decentralization is, of course, just dispersing energy. But more often we use it when describing the trend in systems to remove power or control from a single point and delegate these elements to the subordinate parts. Decentralized systems tend to work better (ie, disperse energy better) on the whole than those in which power and control are kept bottled up and hoarded.

Integration- Another corollary to entropy. Is The Universe expanding? Or is it just integrating with its surroundings? Integration is basically dissipation, so we see that everything in the world is eventually involved in integrating. Look all around these days in world affairs and business and you’ll see integration. Look at The European Union. Someone even pointed out to me how much more passing and teamwork there is in soccer these days as opposed to 30 years ago. The players are not islands, they are an integrated team…

GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy - Since the goal of Biological Evolution is genetic proliferation, this term describes a person’s individual choice of strategy for genetic proliferation. To put it in layman’s terms - it’s your personality, as defined from the perspective of evolution. Read more on Genetic Proliferation Strategies here.

Systems - Everything is a system and all systems have similar characteristics and goals. The Universe is a system, humanity is a system, your government is a system, and you are a system. You all have a lot in common.

Resources - All the things you have at your disposal to help you accomplish your goal genetic proliferation. These include things like physical health, wealth, social and family networks, psychological assets, skills, knowledge, environmental assets, and talents.

It’s all about “Happy”
The only reason to delve into all this is to make you happy. That’s the drive behind everything that humans do. “I thought you just said it was to dissipate energy.” Ah, sharp. It is to dissipate energy, but dissipating energy makes us happy and we dissipate the most energy when we are happy. It’s a beautiful circle. And the big quest for Quanology is really to define what happiness is for humans. I’ve already taken a stab at it here in the 7 Keys to Happiness article. Happiness is only slightly different for everyone. For the most part, true happiness is a static thing - though not necessarily somewhere we can ever perfectly reach. Why not? Because of our natural drive to expand. “Happiness” as a target will always be moving away from you. The most you can do is to do your best in life and be content in knowing that you will always have a small spot of desire and restlessness inside you. And that’s part of life as we define it.

I might be wrong
Of course, I’m just putting this all together from concepts I’ve learned and stolen from others. Information here may be incorrect and/or incomplete. But all is open for discussion, critique and correction. The system itself is probably immutable but our understanding of it will develop over the course of time. And so will our precision and skill in explaning it. Perfection is the journey, but I’m just getting started, so a few sore feet are to be expected.

So, that’s Quanology in a nutshell. Hope this site does this concept justice and provides sufficient explanation to every little aspect of the world, and more importantly, can teach you something about yourself and how to be happy.

*The definition of Entropy was already updated in the 60’s, so we probably just had some outdated text books. This is another theme of Quanology - how fast technology changes and the delay we experience in incorporating new technology.

** Positive Psychology is actually beginning to ask and answer such questions as “how cn we live best” and backing it up well with scientific research. Quanology incorporates many of their findings in both its theory and application.

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About time we got into some concrete conclusions regarding happiness. Based on the principles Quanology lays forth, let’s have a look at what makes you and me happy . Some will contend that happiness is different for everyone. While it’s true that everyone has their own things that they like to do, the points listed in this article apply to everyone, and they contribute to overall long-term happiness. Here they are…

 …But first the all-important definition paragraph. What is the nature of happiness? Happiness, in the quanological context is simply: following the laws of nature. Do what Mother Nature wants you to do, and you will be happy. She may be a bitch at times, but she is no dummy. She knows she has to reward the beings and physical bits which do her bidding. Problem is, we all have different ideas about what she wants for us. As we know (or at least, assume here), Nature wants us to dissipate energy. This wish has translated into Evolution for living creatures and Evolution has in turn given humans a varied set of Genetic Proliferation Strategies which we execute to allow evolution to be carried out. Now, some Genetic Proliferation Strategies are more mainstream than others, ie, they are more effective in general. Mass murderer is also a GPS, but it is not nearly as successful as loyal husband and father. Thankfully, Nature rewards the fathers more with happiness than the mass murderers (they are a depressing bunch). So, what makes the average person happy? Can happiness be quantified? Scientists say “yes”. Scientifically, on an individual level - not a societal level, cognitive psychologists will quantify happiness as the amount of positive emotions one feels during the course of an average day. Doesn’t matter what you experience or what you do, only what you feel about what you experience and what you do. Participation in the points below will simply help you to experience positive emotions long-term through the sub-conscious reward-system which nature has built inside you. Without further ado…

1. Physical fun - You are an animal - flesh and blood, a physical being. Attending to this physical being is an obvious way to be happy. My dog is happy rolling in the mud - something dogs do - and you will be happy doing what humans do. When you work out and exert your physical body to a level above ordinary use, you are telling yourself “I am useful, I am doing productive things”. And Nature says “that’s a good boy” and rewards you for it. Your body wants you to use what you have been given to an extraordinary level, simply because that level means you are dissipating energy at an extraordinary level - Nature’s fundamental desire for us. Anything that Nature wants you to do, it rewards you for.  Happiness through physical exertion is low-hanging fruit. Running a human body through a rigorous work-out is like taking out a kid for an ice-cream. I’m not saying that working out all day will lead to a happy, fulfilled life, but what it does do is gear up the rest of your person for a high-scale mission in search of a happy fulfilled life. With blood circulation increased and confidence increased, your brain tends to think more from a positive viewpoint. In case you were working-out in a group atmosphere, you will also be strengthening the social bonds that are so important to human happiness (transition to next point…).

2. A social life - Tigers are solitary animals but lions live in groups. A lone tiger is a happy tiger but a lion living alone is incomplete. Ditto for humans. Talking to people and sharing with people is part of our nature and nature will reward you for partaking in this behavior. It is no coincidence that all these social networking sites are doing so well. Positive psychology experts are concluding how important a good social life is to happiness. And looking at our evolutionary background, it makes good sense that strengthening the unity of a group entity feels good. What did Nature give us to keep us alive? She made us smart and she made us social. The rest is not all that exceptional.

3. Education - Just as our bodies like to be put through the ringer, so does our brain. Cognitive stimulation is fun, and you know it. Not all of us like school but all of us like learning. Find a subject you’re interested in and take it on a weekend getaway for two. Nature correlates the act of building cognitive resources with success in genetic proliferation. Can’t read? You are doomed to a joyless existence (how would you know since you can’t read this). But don’t confuse reading the newspaper with learning. I’m talking non-fiction books, magazines and journals. Good long-term feelings will soon follow.

4. Mindfulness - Consciousness is relatively new to life on earth. Until people came around, the entire universe had been running on unconsciousness. And, when you’re living in another moment thinking about all the crap you have to do today or all the crap you did yesterday, you’re actually not conscious of the current moment. Consciousness is a blessed, super important adaptation and using it feels good. We were made to consider “other options” and were rewarded when we found them. But you can lose the goal-oriented drive for now and stop to think about your feelings at the moment, take a look around at your surroundings, feel the air going into your lungs and your feet on the ground, and the infinite number of molecules dancing around you interacting with one another on and on into eternity… It can be very subtle or it can be the most euphoric feeling in the world. Either way, it’s happiness and it’s right there whenever you want it…

5. Achievement - Doing good things feels good. Even hanging up the curtains my wife had been hounding me about feels good. Not during, but afterwards. Euphoria after the accomplishment of a hefty task (trust me, drilling in the ceiling was a hefty task) feels innately good. It’s hard-wired. Theoretically all individual accomplishments should be linked to the individual, and your self-worth and credibility goes up with every hole you drill for the common good. Nature wants you to achieve and test the bounds of your ability in hopes that it will lend to the proliferation of your genes. So it made accomplishment feel good. And accomplishment does not come without having a feeling of control over your self and your environment.

6. Thinking happy thoughts. As we discussed in the Evolution of Morality, good and bad are human constructs. Do yourself a favor and try to see the positive side of everything around you. This is actually the whole topic of conversation round Cognitive Psychology. Everything, yes everything, has a potentially good and bad side to it. So, try to focus on the good. Is this naive? Is it brainwashing? Maybe, but who cares? Why would you not? In the name of reality? No such thing. Reality is what you make of it. Two people in 2 exact same situations can have 2 totally different experiences. You can choose to have the good one…  If you consistently choose the bad one, rest assured this is just a self-defense mechanism you have built up over the years to protect yourself from loss. You can learn to live without it, and you’ll be very happy you did.

7. Good genes. Alas we are all bound by the ship in which we sail and some of us have some pretty happy vessels and some of us don’t. Psychologists have indeed found evidence of genetic predisposition to happiness, or rather a “happiness range” in which an individual operates. If all your family members are grumpy, good chance a shiny disposition will be illusive for you, even if you’re pretty consistent with the aforementioned points.  

So this stuff is pretty obvious, sure, but good to clarify and focus on them. And then comes the big question, “why don’t most people do these?” They seem attainable enough. That’s another article all together.
But let’s take a quick look at some of the things which are not on the list. In doing so, please note that the 7 keys above have been chosen as such in part because they are independent of competence. By that, I mean that there is no real bad way to do them. You cannot achieve poorly, you can not be social poorly, or exercise poorly (aside from over-exertion…). Ti’s not the case with some of the points below. Let’s take a look.

What’s not on the list (and why the hell not):
Kids - Kids actually do feel good in the long term, and obviously making them feels good now. But they are not the key to happiness. The joys of parenthood can be short-lived as your children soon attempt to pass on their genes at the expense of yours. Parenting is indeed hard work. I’m not saying that parenting can’t be tremendously rewarding, I’m just saying that nature has no problem using you to her own needs, making you horny, getting you hooked on the idea of having kids, and then leaving you to clean up the mess once junior crosses the line between cute and needy. Once again, this is by no means the only perspective on parenting, and as with many things, if you do it right, it can be very rewarding, but do it wrong and it can be a disaster for everyone involved.

Marriage - Again, it depends on how you do it. A good marriage can add nicely to a happy life, as married people tend to be generally happier than the singles. But of course, they can also take the form  of War of the Rosesstyle fiascoes where lives get ruined and kids get really cynical.

Riches - Different from “money” in which we could just mean “having enough to tend to your immediate needs”. Riches means lots of cash. It is natural to want to accumulate resources, and having something, be it knowledge, high self-esteem, a strong body, or a big sack of money, feels inherently good. Unfortunately when that something is something that others want from you, can take from you, and can be lost, then a sense of worry and fear may not be far behind. Paradoxically, it takes power to get and keep money - and that can be a burden. It feels nice when no one wants anything from you. If you’re rich, you’ll never know… It’s not called the root of all evil for nothing (I think that’s bullshit too). Riches are an integral part of a full-life but it alone will not make you happy, just as gasoline alone will not make you go.

Religion - Now, let’s trim the definitions of religion down for a second and just call it: worshiping a higher being and following a set of documented beliefs in a group setting. This doesfeel good, and I would argue that people who have found religion tend to be happier on the whole than those who haven’t. And it is in our nature to join together under a common set of beliefs, and thusly nature has ensured that it feels good. But there are many miserable religious people. Unfortunately most of them don’t even know they are miserable. Following a group means not always following yourself. That feels horrible all the time. Let us not confuse religion with #4 above. You can have that connection to a higher force without religion.

Love- Love does feel pretty good. At least that true selfless love where you don’t really want anything from the object of affection, just that they be. Problem is, it’s not something we can just go after. It either happens or it doesn’t - that is, since it involves something external, ie something to love, you are not in control of it. It’s not something to build your life on, it’s potentially fleeting and susceptible to the fickle nature of the mind. Maybe you can love a person like you would a piece of art and simply muse upon it from a distance and enjoy its quality. Fine…

Sex - Anyone who has been overcome with guilt minutes after copulation should be able to see why sex did not make the list. Sex is a young prospect with lots of talent who is just too erratic to consistently contribute to Team Happy. It’s just so wired into our subconscious that we sometimes can’t understand on a conscious level why we go to so much trouble to get it. Remember when you first found out what sex actually was? Didn’t you think “that’s ridiculous”? And here you are, so many years later unable to keep your eyes on the car in front of you when a short skirt struts it on the side walk. Nature does want you to have sex and scientists say that it adds years to your life. (I guess nature thinks “he’s still throwing strikes, no need to pull him off the mound yet). Good, proper sex can result in some of the best moments of your life, but ”bad” sex can result in some of the worst moments of your life.

Health - Shocking, I know. But Positive Psychology researchers have shown that your health does not have drastic effects on our level of happiness. You can be just as happy as the next guy, smoking and coughing all day long. Overweight? You might cringe slightly when looking in the mirror, but overall, you’ll still be able to smile just like your thin counterparts.

Good weather - Just wanted to clarify that sunshine does not correlate with happiness. Complain as you will about the dreary weather, but moving to a beach resort will not change your levels of happiness. There are miserable people in San Diego.

Attractiveness - This is just one of the reasons Extreme Makeover shows are silly. Being suddenly attractive simply does not contribute to the long-term happiness of individuals. They may feel overjoyed at all the sudden attention they are getting for their comely appearance, but eventually the negative feelings which they most probably had inside start to work their way back into the daily routine, and they start to feel like shit again. Only this time, they can’t say to themselves “if only I were beautiful”.

That’s it for now. One of these days we’ll explore the difference between the people who actively and consistently partake in these 7 keys and the people you do not. As an end-note, I’d like to add that everyone wants to be happy, but unhappiness is part of the game too. No need to deny its existence in your life or try to stomp it out completely. Discontent is the seed of improvement. While some define pure happiness as the lack of desire, we know that Nature wants you to desire. Lack of desire means lack of movement. It is only when you desire something, like happiness, that you will do something, like the points mentioned above. Just as the universe is always slightly out of balance, you - even on your best day - will always be slightly left of pure joy. That is life, and it’s OK.

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Here, we’ll discuss why Michael Jordan and Eminem are smart, but their IQs might not reflect this. Who cares about intelligence anyway? What you want is to succeed in life. This article will explain that you have to be intelligent to succeed, but you don’t need a high IQ. And since there are an infinite number of ways of succeeding, there is an infinite number of intelligence definitions. And of course, we cannot measure success without knowing what it is. If intelligence is the extent to which someone is successful (not their capability to be successful), then we must define what success is before we can say if someone is intelligent. In this sense, we are working backwards - taking a result and concluding on the intelligence of the individual instead of the current paradigm which tests the individual and applies a degree of intelligence based on their score. A score which no one should care about unless we are correlating IQ with success, ie predicting success on the basis of IQ test scores.

Potential for Success vs Actual Success

Why is intelligence correlated with acheived success and not capacity to acheive success? IQ tests will measure your capacity to do something - not what you’ve already done, so our new definition adds that extra element of achievement. But why? The logic is, nature does not reward talent, it rewards acheivement. There are two kinds of energy - potential and kinetic. But as you know from 8th grade science class, only kinetic energy is actually dissipating - doing what nature wants it to do. So, we define success based on what nature wants for you. If you have talent and have done nothing with it, then you are lacking somewhere. It goes against nature to have unused talents and it is very much an ability, or a capacity to convert talents into actual achievement. We get annoyed at successful people with little talent, but the fact is, they have the most important talent of all - the ability to acheive. So, it’s part of the equation here. Nature does not care about potential, so why put it in your definition of intelligence? The new paradigm is: we all have the same level of potential. Or to be more specific: any differences we have in terms of potential success are insignificant. I’m not saying all men are created equal, I’m saying all men have relatively the same potential for success. Of course, if actual achievement is figured into the calculation for intelligence, it implies that your intelligence level is not static, since your success level is not static. Indeed it is not - one might have a real string of “intelligent years” only to succumb to lesser intelligent years down the road. Success comes and goes and everything in the universe is in motion - how could your intelligence level stay the same?

The Scientific Definition of Success

Right, so what is success? Success is defined by how well a system dissipates energy. Period. All other definitions are simply anecdotal or are in some way derivative of this. Look at any situation - human, or otherwise - and this definition can be applied, though it won’t always be immediately obvious.  This is why we can say that we all have relatively the same potential for success. All systems deal with energy and The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the energy of any system is dissipating - ie the order is decreasing. A classic example is an ice-cube melting. Energy is dissipating when the ice becomes water. And the ice cube is successful (yes, there are successful ice-cubes) to the extent that it melts. The faster it melts, ie the faster it moves from a state of order to a state of disorder, the more successful it is. This obviously must be translated to the human experience. Here we go.

The Human Definition of Success 

Why are you on this earth? Why do humans exist? People have been pondering these questions as long as anyone can remember and the answers seem to all be incomplete. I would be silly to think this conclusion should be different, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.  To keep it simple, I’ll start at the top of the hierarchy (human drives) and move down the ladder (energy dissipation).

3. Human level - what do humans want to do? Pass on their genes

2. Gene Level - why do genes want to be passed on? This is simply one way for them to dissipate energy - by organizing themselves into complex structures which fit into complex low-energy environments or holes. Think of evolution as a system to create keys for an infinite number of key holes. Fitting into a key hole would be how the energy is dispersed, so species mold themselves into the shapes of keys which will fit into the key holes. The other way for genes to dissipate energy is to die and decompose. This is coincidentally our other big goal in life. But since life dissipates energy better than death, most of us try to hold out as long as we can. Evolution is like a pool of water cut off from the ocean. Eventually a series of streams find their way to the ocean.  Imagine a virtually infinite number of streams and each little stream is like a form of life. Genes are made of matter too and the same behavior seen by the water can be seen by all living things. We’re all just trying to make it to the ocean.

1. Energy level - why does energy want to be dissipated? If you believe the Big Bang Theory (and we’re pretty much booking on it here), then a long time ago the universe was concentrated into a very tiny tiny space. That was the pinnacle of energy concentration and when it exploded, the energy began dispersing itself. Another visual is that of a swig of milk being poured into a hot cup of coffee. The milk is initially concentrated into one spot and slowly starts dispersing itself through the remainder of the cup. The paths it takes will be varied but you can be assured that it will always move from an area of high concentration to low concentration. That’s just how the universe is set up.

Though we are biologically here to pass on our genes, I am not implying that the most successful people are the ones with the most children and grandchildren. Evolution is not quite that simple. As stated in the article GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy, one can pass on their genes in other ways besides procreation. Cultural evolution has broadend the definition of success by associating culture and collective thought with biological gene pools - allowing artists, thinkers, leaders, and atheletes to be successful beyond their procreative efforts. Success now includes rushing for 2000 yards in a season or winning the Nobel Prize. No one would have cared 20,000 years ago, and even if they did, no future generations would have remembered. Success means fulfilling the goals of both biological and cultural evolution - with a noticable favor towards cultural evolution. This is why we value celebrities over good parents.

The Goals of  Biological & Cultural Evolution

And what are the goals of biological and cultural evolution? Here’s another bulletted list

Biological:

- Main goal: conceive and raise children who are in state to do the same and whose children too are in state to do the same (ie, raise a family and/or have lots of sex)

- Main goal, second best: help facilitate the above goal for members of the same gene pool and bearing that, a closely related gene pool (ie, contribute to society)

- Supportive goal: amass resources to help you in the above two goals (ie, get rich, strong, and popular)

Cultural:

 - Contribute to a belief system, since belief systems help unite individuals towards their common goal: genetic proliferation. Look closely and you’ll see that statistically, people who have followed religions have been more successful, according to the definitions of biological evolution, than those who have not. Indeed, the family that prays together stays together. And there is strength in numbers. Atheists, be they right or not, are all alone - just take a look at the US electorate.

- Create art. It is the artists of societies who have been able to pull the emotional puppet strings of the people. They are nothing more than psychological drug dealers. Our brains are set up to be emotionally manipulable. Just look at your teenage kid in his room all day listening to System of a Down. In a sense they have been able to gain a slight control over people in a society and thereby unite others to their own ends. Atheletes are in here too. Don’t tell me Roger Federer isn’t a painter. Everybody loves an artist - even a bad one. The good ones are the most revered members of society. 

Being Intelligent Means Being Successful 

With these being the goals and their achievement being “success”, intelligent beings are thusly the ones who actually achieve them. There may be a rapper out there as good as Eminem, but if he doesn’t get noticed and has to keep working at Burger King, it will be because he was less intelligent. Sure, luck plays a part in many instances, but statistically over the breadth of the population, intelligence is translated as success and success is a reflection of intelligence. There may be another tennis player as talented as Roger Federer but it is Federer’s psychology, his intelligence which have gotten him the results. And notice how his intelligence developed. He used to be a head case who was hot and cold on the courts - but in recent years he’s found the psychological plane to allow him to be hot most of the time.

So no more discussing how some people have book smarts and others have emotional intelligence or social intelligence, or whatever the flavor-of-the-month definition is, and that we’re all different. The truth is, some people are intelligent and others are not, but we all can be intelligent. Thankfully nature has left us many different ways to be intelligent, many paths we can take to get to that ocean. Some will involve using our emotions effectively and some will involve brute psychological force. Both are intelligent if both are successful. So, don’t be fooled by your IQ scores. If you’re successful in terms of the ways defined here, then you’re intelligent. If you’re not all that successful as per the definitions above, then your intelligence is lacking. The beauty of it all is, by means of study, practice, focus, and a good psychology, you’re in complete control.

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Be forewarned, for those looking for some new romantic, intangible definition of this deified emotion, this article will leave you with a sneer. The definition of love is so clear in my head, that I can hardly imagine the time when it wasn’t - when pop songs trying to crystallize it would almost make sense to me. I used to love those songs. Now I can only think about how the singer has no idea what he’s talking about. Indeed I too wear a sneer.

The Moral Animal 
A book on evolutionary psychology called The Moral Animal changed my life.  It convinced me how all-powerful and all-encompassing the drive to pass on one’s genes is. Everything we do is somehow directed to passing on our genes. If we really are a product of evolution, how could it be otherwise? If we look at any and every living thing on the planet, we easily agree that their sole purpose is to pass on their genes. Why would it be different with us? Because we are conscious beings? It took billions of years for humans to develop from lower life forms. Conscious thought is relatively new.

Reproductive Strategies 
So, part of the definition of love requires us to look at our reproductive strategies and see what mechanisms would help us attain the goals implicit in these strategies. We pass on our genes through reproduction. Sounds obvious, but there is a twist to it outside the scope of this article (read the Moral Animal for more). Reproduction has two parts to it - conceiving children and raising them. Love is the motivational drug that is present in both of these parts to ensure we partake in conceiving (romantic love) and raising children (parental love). Sure sex feels good, and that’s obviously another adaptation to ensure we have lots of sex, but attraction is the seed of love, and there will be no sex without attraction - no matter how good sex feels. Think of the most unattractive, repulsive member of the opposite sex you can imagine, and then think about engaging in sex with them. Who’s winning out here: your brain or your genitalia?…. OK, let’s move on.

Love vs Attraction 
Attraction is low-level, potentially short-term love. It can blossom into love, or it can fade minutes after the person starts talking. Love, is the more committed, long-term version, where, not only do you want to have sex with this person, you want to see the resulting children grow up. (Remember, to our 10,000 year-old bodies and the Catholic Church, there is no sex without children). And that’s why love is there. It’s your attorney signing the papers for you. It commits and legal binds you to this partnership. If we didn’t have love, then we would just be a species who produces herds of children, but feels no duty to raise them. Some animals can get away with churning out children who somehow make it far enough in life to propagate the species, but not us - which is why I don’t sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Real love
Van Halen’s song “How will I know when it’s love”. It’s when the decision has been made and your body has committed to it. You focus completely on the good things and foresee all the bad. The cap off the toothpaste goes completely unnoticed as you grab her toothbrush and imagine that it’s some romantic way of kissing her when she’s not even there. That’s love. You’re no longer in the “let’s think about it and test this guy/girl out” phase. Something solidifies in your brain, some set of chemicals join and become fixed, setting up a group of thought patterns and neural pathways which are all but impossible to deviate from. Doesn’t matter what your friends or family say. You become intensely focused. Which is why you start to hear love songs everywhere and take in these romantics lyrics as if they were scripture. Just like when you decide to buy a new car and you start seeing that car everywhere on the road where you hadn’t really noticed it before. You start to think about marriage and spending the rest of your life with this person. Indeed this is what nature had programmed you to do (among other things).

That’s not to say it will work out. HA! You may break up within months and be in love again shortly thereafter, but, rest assured, you were in love then. You just didn’t succeed. Like a lioness who commits to catching a zebra and fails after a 200 yard sprint. She’s upset and discouraged, but she’ll be back soon - she’ll have to be. And you too will commit again someday.

So, now you know
If you are a romantic, do not be disparaged by this scientific definition of this wondrous emotion. Does it make it any less exciting or beautiful? I love my wife, love my kids, love my family. Now I know where it comes from, and it’s only more fascinating and glorious. It’s as beautiful as a sunset, as a tree, or a work of art - all of these are part of this incredible universe. There is not one thing more beautiful than another.

That’s just my opinion though, maybe I’m way off.

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We have a winner. By applying principles of evolution and systems theory, we conclude that the Jews are set up for success. 

I am not a Jew, nor do I necessarily favor the Jews as a people. I simply find them and their success on this planet fascinating and in this article I’ll apply the principles outlined in this site to the Jews and their existence on this planet. And in doing so, they fare quite well. The Bible is full of metaphors and so I’m just taking a “page out of their book” in calling the Jews “God’s Chosen People”. I don’t personally believe God consciously chooses anything. Whether you believe in God or not, you may be able to imagine that nature favors some characteristics in things and individuals over other characteristics. Biology teachers will call this process of favoritism “Natural Selection”. Not all characteristics are created the same: some will do well in the world and some will not. And of course, some characteristics are doing neither great nor horrible, and just hover in the realm of “getting by”. And, when looking at the Jews in this article, I’m looking at their potential and not only their current state - much like a baseball scout is looking at a prospect’s potential and not only how well he is doing at the moment.  But they are, in fact, doing well and looks like they have what it takes to do even better.

The Jews as a people have several characteristics which make them more fit for success in this world than other peoples. The suspense must be killing you:

Decentralization and team work
Jews are historically everywhere. Dispersed yet united. I can’t escape the biological analogy of a bunch of cells working for a common goal. And, of course, other religions are also dispersed, but somehow the lack of a homeland has given the Jews an extra motive for maintaining togetherness. The history of suffering has only added to this motive. When the Jews finally did get a homeland in 1948 in the form of Israel, they transformed from a set of cells to one big cell with a nucleus. Ironically, the strife they still face may be serving the “togetherness” motif which has been integral to their success. Imagine Israel was as big as Texas, held 95% of all Jews and was in complete harmony with its neighbors. They would be just another country, just another people. Decentralization and team work are characteristics favorable to successful goal-oriented systems. They work for businesses and they are working for the Jews.

A defined operating plan
The Jews are a people, but then, so are the Irish. But when we define “people” as pertaining to a religion, they hold the advantage of having a code - i.e. a way of living and operating that everyone can adhere to. Research shows that businesses with a mission statement tend to do better than those without. Now, countries sort of have a mission statement, but democracy tends to water it down. You just don’t have everybody on the same page in a democracy as you do in a religion. Not saying one is better than the other, but when it comes to coordinating efforts on a large scale, it helps to have as many people as possible agreeing on what has to be done.

Freedom and Flexibility
Despite that Jews adhere to Judaism, they are known for their flexibility in their belief. Obviously, Orthodox Jews are not, but your mainstream Jew on the street can get through life with a lot less guilt than your average Catholic or Muslim. Their code seems less specific and stringent than other religions, making them the masters of the system instead of the slaves. If religion is a path to be followed, they have paved a wide road to allow for greater inclusion and possibilities. Again, the rabbis may not admit to this, but it is the reality of the modern Jewish people. Contrast this with the average Muslim, who also comes from a strict religion, but feels an increasing push to actually adhere to it much more than his average Jewish counterpart. This lack of flexibility will eventually mutate and strangle the Muslim community whereas the Jews will be able flourish in their approach.

The Jewish Trinity - confident, passionate, and able
Somehow confidence is built into the Jewish existence. Despite being teased on the global schoolyard, these people have unshakeable faith that they can do anything. Of course, there will be individuals who have no self-esteem, but I’m talking in general terms with graphs and large numbers of people. The Jews believe. And they have the muscle, cultural intellect and capability to deliver. Attribute it perhaps to the togetherness and a possible need to be one step ahead of the game in a hostile environment. Passion is in there too. They want to be there and they want to do well. Put all this together and it makes for a powerful group. Other peoples may share some of these characteristics (the Arabs are passionate too and the Swedes are very confident) but the combination makes them fairly unique in the world.

Employing other people
The Jews have done a great job ensuring that the rest of the world cares about their welfare. Sure parts of the world still openly deny the Jews their place in the world, but in large, most countries and peoples are sympathetic to the Jewish cause and help out where they can. This is a rare feat and one that does not go unrewarded. Imagine how much more successful a person is who has other people supporting his endeavors. Guilt has certainly helped win over support but so has a strong image.

They’re inside you
The Jews are also notorious entertainers and artists, as good art needs all the traits the Jews possess - passion, confidence, and ability. Coincidently, modern film and television have found them indispensable and the Jews have been able to put their cultural stamp on much of the information we receive via the television. This has been crucial to the success the Jewish people have seen since the Second World War. We all know how important information is. You can imagine the Jews inhabit a small piece of every American’s brain in the form of Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg’s films, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, and Ross & Rachel Geller. Few ethnic groups can claim to own the same proportion of mental real estate in the world’s psyche. To top it off, we’re all quite happy to have them there. Of course, I have yet to feel a strong Jewish presence on the Internet - the mother of all information systems. Is it potential proof that Jewish success is not a planned and calculated effort or are the Jews simply not in a position to hold a disproportionate presence on the internet?

All these points mentioned above contribute to the success of any system. Businesses understand this and do their best to employ all of these elements. And somehow, they are all built into the Jewish existence. Lucky them. I say “lucky” since I don’t see it came about from some conscious initiative - that’s just how the Jews have evolved. Of course, we can all learn something from this, but we won’t since we - whatever people you belong to - are not led by conscious decisions and actions. But we can use logic like this to get an idea of which people will have a hard time in the coming centuries and which ones will effortlessly flourish and expand. Best of luck to all of you.

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We hereby define a new term used to describe our “strategy” in life. Are you a giver, a taker, a lover, a fighter, macho guy, sensitive guy, Madonna, slut, etc - it’s all really your GPS.

If evolutionary psychologists are right - and they do seem to be gaining credibility and attention these days - then our personalities are largely endowed to us by Mother Nature during the process of evolution. In fact, your personality is simply an adaptation created and managed to help you navigate your environment and successfully proliferate your genes.

Notice we talk about a gene proliferation strategy - not a sexual strategy. We all have a sexual strategy (and not the “ok, you go up to her and start talking then I bust in after like 10 seconds and ask you if you want a drink and then I’ll just ask her and her friend if they want something to drink, and then we’re in”), but this is a subset of our gene proliferation strategy.

To explain - we do not need to have sex to proliferate our genes. Sure, we largely prefer it, but because our genes are also in our family members, expanding the gene pool goes beyond sex, and even child rearing, to encapsulate altruism and good old-fashioned brotherly love. My aunt has never had children but in a way, she ensures that her genes get passed on by giving me 20 bucks on my birthday. That’s part of her gene proliferation strategy but has nothing to do with reproduction.

Let’s explore the gene proliferation strategy.

Lots of personality
We are an expansive species. So much variation in our gene pool - unlike crocodiles; they’re pretty much all the same. But there are all kinds of people, personality-wise. And this variation, this range of personalities, was simply developed to allow humans to expand as a species. One sort of person can live within a range of environmental circumstances and another sort of person can live under a slightly different range of environmental circumstances. Put all the different personalities together and we’re covering a good bit of environmental circumstances. And indeed humans are doing well. We’re friggin’ everywhere and it is the variations of our personalities which have allowed us to do so.

And just what are the various personalities? I guess we all know them, but they remain tricky to define. Jung called them “archetypes”. You’ve got dominant people, meek people, introverts, extroverts, friendly, hostile, emotional, stoic, principled, loose, athletic, awkward, etc etc. These traits are largely inherited but nature has given you some flack to play around with. Shy? You can develop yourself to be less shy. But in the end, your genetic proliferation strategy will be in line with that of a shy person.

To understand the strategies, we must first take a look at the “game”. Relating this to football - there’s no point in explaining the strategy of “passing to the side lines when there’s little time on the clock and you’re down” if you don’t know what those 22 people are doing on the field in the first place. So, take a step back to understand what we’re doing on this planet.

Right. I’ll try to keep it short and completely remove any philosophical, religious, or existential underpinnings and start from the level of biology. We are on this planet to proliferate our genes. No other reason. Everything we do is somehow related to this. Go to work, go to school, have sex, raise children, pick your nose, jog a mile, drive a car, go skiing, even taking drugs is related somehow to gene proliferation. You may not understand how smoking pot contributes to gene proliferation, and it is indeed a stretch, but rest assured, it does. Note: I do not encourage anyone to smoke pot - especially if it’s shwag and you got it from a sketchy source.

But if we can continue in agreement with this goal, all this does seem to fit together. So, genetic proliferation is the game, and we each need to play a role in that. Some do it by raising a family, some do it by promiscuous and commitment-free sex, some do it by joining the priesthood. And all of these options can be seen as strategies - strategies which are linked to certain personalities in order to execute them. Obviously, it takes a certain type of person to do any of the aforementioned. And each one of us can take a look at ourselves and match up the way we are and the things we do with possible genetic proliferation strategies.

Let’s take a few examples of stereotypical personality types and see how their personality lends to gene proliferation.
Men and women being the two sides of the coin obviously have very different strategies for gene proliferation, so we’ll split the types between them.

Women
The untouchable beauty - yes, she’s a bitch but if she were nice, the guys would never leave her alone. Her bitchiness is a survival mechanism. They all want her and the goods go to the highest bidder. Anyone who isn’t up to par is held at bay with a cold shoulder and a stoic gaze. The strategy is to be cold and aloof, get some rich guy to adore her and take care of her and the kids. She will probably be doomed to an unstable life since her husband - being the highest bidder - has a lot of bidding material to throw around. Conclusion: Nature wants her to “win the jackpot” getting a huge amount of resources from one man to raise her kids. She will effectively do this and ensure her progeny will also follow the “high road” by enrolling them in etiquette school.

The awkward, shy type - she will most probably find love, usually from a warm and loving man (we’ll get to him in a second). She’ll be a good mother and raise her children with love and care. Were she to not get a family of her own, you can bet she’d be a great support to close family members with their own offspring. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have kids of her own and a fairly mundane existence. Barring that, she can simply lend a hand taking care of her family’s kids

The slut - she probably looks pretty good but feels pretty bad about herself. This leaves her with the possibility to be with lots of men but her low self-esteem will not allow her to stay in a lasting relationship. She is sweet, yet frail and insecure and constantly seeking appreciation. Since being with one man for a longer period is not working out, she will pass on her genes by seeking the “support” of these sooters - getting little bits of support many many times. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have children and get fleeting support from the men she sees.

The prude - her sexuality has been repressed and she is pushed into the role of caring mother. A few kids taken well care of will suffice in getting those genes to future generations. Complete devotion will be expected of her man and he will not be the pick of the litter, but what he’s got her gives to her. Conclusion: she will settle for the doormat type of man, squeeze the life out of him and kill his sexuality accordingly.

The bitch - “help is hard to come by”. This belief means she struggles to get anything. Her interactions with others are largely hostile. Her intimate relationships will also be a battle, but she will squeeze out what she needs to raise some kids - bitchy kids… Conclusion: Nature wants her to “take what she can get” and push away those trying to take from her.

Men
The jock - athletic, right? this lends him to genetic credibility and makes him attractive to potential mates. He gets around. He feels no real need to settle with one woman. He takes on an alpha-doggish dominant personality and operates on an unsophisticated level - which proves effective to a certain point. Conclusion: Nature wants him to bone excessively. Either he’ll eventually settle down at an age well past the national average and be faithful, or he’ll marry early and continue his sexual destiny with extramarital affairs. Women will have a love/hate relationship with him - adoring him for his manliness and loathing him for his…manliness.

The comic - gets along with everyone and keeps the groups laughing. Of course, this is mostly done out of insecurity and fear of hostility. This is perhaps slightly dishonest. This can be interpreted as a lack of strength - were he strong enough, he wouldn’t have to care what the group thought. This lack of strength is translated to half-ass attempts at relationships and sexual congress. The fear and edginess can be translated as suppressed sexual energy. Conclusion: He will joke his way into the pants of a really nice girl, masturbate often in his regret that he wasn’t a leader type, and steadily shink over the years as the weight of the group bears down on him. He’ll be a pretty good father and provide well for a few polite children.

The nerd - though it sounds like an insult, the archetype can be the potential “intelligence jock”. Of course, there are nerds ranging from the classic computer geeks with glasses to the Hardvard professor with the tweed jacket and pipe. What unites them under one category is their lack of success with women. They excel on a group level - not an individual level. What I mean is, their gift is to the group, whereas the jock’s gift is to some lucky gal. So, nerds will not enjoy the adoration of women, but rather of groups, institutions, and governments. they are smart, so the game plays out in their head. This makes them laregly introverted and distant. Conclusion: Nature wants them to serve the group, and not get too distracted with women or even family. They’ll be decent dads but less decent husbands. Nice people but no one you want to spend too much time with.

The leader - Again, a testament to the diversity of personality. No need to have good genes for physical strength or even intelligence - just need to get shit done. Coordinating and getting results do wonders for your gene proliferation. Confidence is a must and it is attractive to both the group and the fairer sex. But they walk a tight rope between their instinctive drive to spread their seed and the moral standards of the group they are serving. You’ll find a fantastic example in Bill Clinton. Conclusion: Nature wants them to impregnate many and serve the community - and their personalities are built up to just both. Screw being a dad. These are some lovable charismatic people, but their families can barely stand them.

The doormat - just trying to keep everyone happy and on his side. Low self-esteem and a confused sense of purpose keep him in dire need of others. He’ll say yes to everyone and everyone senses his desperation and treats him like the doormat he subconsciously professes to be. Conclusion: Nature wants him to get a decent wife, have kids and live his life as a slave to work and family.

The skirtchaser - not necessarily good looking yet somehow attractive to women. Confidence is key and he’s got tons of it - largely in the “I just don’t give a fuck” sense. If he had confidence in another sense (ie competent and virtuous), nature would push him more in the role of leader. He actually has low self-esteem and dislikes his place on earth so is simply out to “go get his” by nailing every chick he can. Conclusion: Nature wants him to lay lots of pipe and impregnate as many women as possible. Finding proper support for raising the children is the women’s problem. So, he is the love ‘em and leave ‘em type. Hearts will be broken but genes will undoubtably be passed on.

The bad-ass - the male equivalent of the bitch. He’s angry and ready to show it. A low self-esteem and continuous struggle in this world leaves him with nothing to lose. He what he needs is a big hug, but he’d kick your ass for suggesting as much. He gets want he wants by force or intimidation. Would rather people just gave it to him courteously but that’s just not in the cards. Conclusion: Nature gives him no freebees, so demands that he take what he can get. He will have children to he same way as he has everything else. His genes will be passed on to the next round.

Stop stop stop before you comment on how this is a tremendous generalization. I know this and embrace it. These are just some of the “primary colors” of personality - indeed we are all tapestries. And these are just a few examples. But from this, I hope you get a rough understanding of the “game” we all find ourselves in, the strategies (ie. personalities) which are being used to succeed in the game, and where your personality fits into it all.

There you have it - a slightly new definition of personality. So, what do we do now?

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Radiohead just released an album. Yes, we’re all a-tingle and anytime Radiohead does anything, it’s a big deal. But what’s notable about this release is that it’s being posted on the internet for free download and fans pay what they want to pay. The theory goes like this: like it a lot = pay a lot, like it not = pay nothing. I haven’t heard the album, but I’m expecting them to do pretty well. What a cool place we’re at in time where products and services are paid for via donations. And that’s what this amounts to - some communist business model where you pay what you feel like paying. No hard sticker price, just your conscience guiding you. Lots of blogs are doing it these days. People put their time and energy into something and then put their faith into the world that there will be some form of gratitude.

This site too bases its business model (if you can call it that) largely on donations. I like the idea that everything is potentially free. There are ads too, which people can either look at or ignore - but, of course, that is another business model. To understand donations better, it’s a good idea to understand why people make donations. This can be largely explained by the phenomenon of altruism. Altruism exists in two forms: 1) reciprocal: i.e. “you owe me one” and 2) kin: “I win when you win”.

In reciprocal altruism, you do something for someone and they are obligated to do something back for you - whether this obligation is enforced by an iron-clad contract or a passive-aggressive guilt trip. This, of course, only works when both parties know of the other’s existence. Donations based on reciprocal altruism may not have such a bright future. With a donation, in this definition (via the internet and largely anonymous) recognition of the donating party is fairly vague. They gave you five bucks, you know their email address, but a feeling of reciprocity is not very strong. You assume they got something out of your product, site, or service and are simply showing their appreciation. A system is not in place which would make this true reciprocal altruism. They could have just as well not paid you five bucks. The end result in terms of your feelings towards them is practically the same when measured in terms of reciprocity. So, just expecting to post good stuff and get money for it from donators may not work out in the long term.

Kin altruism may be the saving grace. We know from evolution that altruism is stronger towards those sharing a higher percentage of our genes (i.e., you’ll be more altruistic to your siblings than to your cousins, statistically). We also know that beliefs and values, not genes, are the currency of cultural evolution. Therefore, by the same mechanism, altruism is stronger towards those who share a higher percentage of our beliefs. For instance, if two people were drowning and you could only save one, who would it be - the one who loved your favorite band or the one who hated your favorite band? Now substitute the word “band” with “religious figure” and you see how strong this stuff really is. Donations should theoretically come easier from those who share your beliefs and values. The more web visitors you attract who believe what you believe and the stronger they believe it, the more money you should theoretically make through donations. A lot of people like Radiohead and their fans are pretty fervent, so by this logic, I would expect Radiohead to do relatively well with this initiative.

How to increase donations
For altruism to really flourish, a few things need to be in place. It may be worth trying to work these elements into your website and/or business.
 - donor identification - altruism doesn’t work as well when the donors are anonymous. Get their names recognized somehow - preferably publicly. Everyone likes other people to know they gave something for nothing. I know what you’re thinking, “doesn’t that make it more of an ad than a donation?” Maybe a little, but in this sense they are both agreements (”I do something and you do something in return”)- just in slightly different forms.
 - do something a lot of people like and feel strongly about - this would explain why there is so much content related to religion, George Bush, and the war in Iraq. Virtually everyone feels strongly about these subjects.
- present a good, positive image for your business/website. Perhaps contrary to logic, people who have a lot of money will tend to receive more donations than those who have very little money. This is the reciprocal altruism again - you give to people who you expect will be able to help you in the future. Poor people would have a harder time doing this. Present yourself well and people will be more likely to give.
- convince people you are helping them - by doing whatever you’re doing in your business, point out the benefits the donator will be receiving (and they should certainly be receiving something beneficial). Radiohead can say that they are providing good music. You should accentuate the great content you’re enriching lives with.

Notice how these four things sound a lot like campaigning - and indeed you’ll see them all in bloom in the upcoming US election. Give them some thought for your website/organization. Hope it works out…. And in a no way ironic gesture…

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Disclaimer
Evolution has been used as a justification for a good bit of hate and violence over the years, so let me take the first paragraph to state that this is a joyous and hopeful article about evolution which is meant to point out the positive aspects of this wondrous subset of evolution in which humanity currently finds itself. You see, we no longer evolve physically as a species, we evolve culturally. We learn all about evolution as a process for physical change in a species via genetic mutations over a period of time, but there has since been a definition of cultural change over a period of time. This is Cultural Evolution.

What is a Culture?
Culture is a set of beliefs, values, abilities, and rules which help people to live and grow together. Culture is about how we operate socially and is itself an evolutionary adaptation which allows us to work together to accomplish common goals. Laws, language, and all facets of communication, beliefs, agreements, bits of knowledge, etc all together make up a culture. Culture is as much a part of humanity as the opposable thumb and just as much a part of evolution too. All systems have rules and assumptions for the subsets to work together, but the rules and beliefs in certain systems change from within - and this is ultimately what evolution is. My car is a system with rules and assumptions set up so that all the parts work together to get me from A to B. But these rules and assumptions will not change on their own; they need an external force (i.e. mechanic or car specialist) to make the changes to the system to get the car to work better. So culture, because it changes on its own, follows an evolutionary process.

The cool part of this is that a culture is that the scope has been steadily increasing over time. A long time ago your culture was only really of value to you in the scope of your tribe. But the tribe has gotten steadily bigger over time and we now have a fully global tribe. Your culture is no longer only defined by where you live where you were raised, but also by what your individual beliefs and values are. Currently the beliefs and values of the world are evolving - the physical part has stopped. Why did it stop? We reached a tipping point as a society that we were no longer at the mercy of our environment and no longer needed to adapt to fit our environment, we were able to adapt our environment to fit us. Cultural evolution has been around since humans were living together, but about 10000 years ago it became the only form of evolution active among humans.

The Big Deal About Beliefs
Beliefs are what guides you and as such can be seen as adaptations. Birds in the wild believe I’m going to catch and eat them, so they fly away at the slightest provocation. Pigeons in New York belief I may give them food, so they allow me to get closer than if they believed I was only out to catch and eat them. This belief is an adaptation for city pigeons - since the ones who hang out closer to humans have been able to enjoy the bounty of their crumbs. Different beliefs will lead to different experiences in the world, and nature has allowed you to change your beliefs to help you best in your current situation.

How Gene Proliferation is a Common Goal
One of the biggest misconceptions about evolution is that it takes place on an individual level. In fact it takes place on the level of the gene. Interestingly enough, my genes are in a lot of different people. And since my genes want to be passed on, I want to see the holders of my genes prosper in life. This gives altruism an interesting twist. This explains why some people give their lives for others. We are not “living for ourselves” in this world; we are living for our genes. My kids have more of my genes than some random stranger on the street, but he does have some of my genes and it is a natural instinct to want to see him happy.

Culture as the New Evolutionary Currency
At some point in our evolution, beliefs became such important adaptations that they were valued by individuals and groups almost as much as genes. The right beliefs meant your genes would flourish and the wrong beliefs meant they were doomed. The theory then became: support your beliefs and you will be supporting your genes. So, those who shared the same beliefs were better able to work together and cooperate and thereby better pass on their genes. Evolution thereby made it such that cultures were as much a part of the survival struggle as the genes themselves. Joseph Giovannoli refers to cultures in this sense as psychogenes, in his book The Biology of Belief.

The more people who support your beliefs, the stronger your beliefs become and the more effective they will be in supporting your survival. Imagine your beliefs are like a weapon and the more people who share them, the stronger the weapon becomes and the more it will aid you in your survival and quest for gene proliferation. Of course, the belief itself has to be viable. If you believe killing your children will aid your gene proliferation, it won’t matter how many people support this belief - it will not help your gene proliferation. A more relevant example would be a religious belief like believing in Christianity or Judaism. Them more people who believe in Christianity, the stronger the Christians become and the better chance they will have of passing on their genes. The genes of the Christians may be quite different from each other, but by believing the same thing, they help each other pass on their respective genes.

Culture and Countries
We usually think of culture as something pertaining to a country. And despite the fact that you are largely free to share cultural common ground with people from all over the world, you are still led by the leaders of your country. A country may have many cultures within its borders but for the most part, it is operating from a single cultural and political standpoint. This standpoint may be a politically devised set of compromises and strategic declarations which enable it to operate in the world and not a real reflection of the myriad of cultures it really holds. Example: Americans largely disagree with the way its leaders are handling themselves, yet the American leaders are still the ones interacting with the rest of the world politically. So, the cultural standpoint of the United States of America does not seem to accurately reflect the cultures of the American people. But America, like all other countries, has a particular culture - its way of interacting with the rest of the world - which changes and shifts from time to time. These cultures, too are adaptations and can be compared with each other as more effective or less effective than other cultures with respect to how well they are helping their parent country survive and proliferate. A culture of hostility may serve a country well or it may not… It used to work quite well back when imperialism was the flavor of the month, but does it fare well today?

Survival of the Fittest Culture
So, culture operates on many levels - depending on the size of the organizations it is defined for. Survival of the Fittest Culture means that some belief systems are better suited to their environment than others. And on each level, there are cultures which fit well into their environment and cultures which don’t fit so well into their environment. And natural selection will see to it that the cultures which are most suited to their environment will be passed on, and those which are less suited will eventually die off. A more detailed explanation of this process is defined by the term “memes” - the cultural equivalent of genes. A good and relevant example of a meme which is doing quite well for itself is environmentalism. It’s all the rage and you see that cultures (on all levels) which are embracing environmentalism are doing well in today’s sphere of influence. I also remember a bumper sticker which proclaimed “mean people suck”. Indeed they do, and we can analyze all these memes and see where the trends are going. How will mean people as a culture continue to fare in the world? Will they proliferate or will their numbers die off? Do not confuse “mean people” as an actual group of assholes but rather as a cultural attribute. Cultures change within and across people’s lifetimes. You may be mean now but maybe your environment pushes you to adapt a new belief system in your lifetime.

The Best Beliefs and Values as Defined by Cultural Evolution
I’m just interpreting here and, in doing so, I’m suddenly aware of how I’m presenting evolution’s ideas much like priests present Jesus’ ideas - there may be a big discrepancy between what the interpreter is saying and what the source really means. Anyway, in studying nature and the trends humanity has undergone in the past 100000 years, we can make assumptions on how certain memes will fare in the future. This actually leads to a conclusion on what the most desirable attributes are for a culture. A pretty big deal if you’re accurate.

I’m not going to conclude on them here but a speculative example would be fun. Here goes: cooperation is a clear trend in the course of humanity. We have only gotten more interdependent on one another and have been forced to find ways to make ourselves happy and prosperous by making others happy and prosperous. This operates on the level of intimate relationships, like a husband and wife working together to raise a family, all the way up to global entities, like the European Union agreeing on a set of rules to help each country work together for economic and social growth. Want to have an effective experience in the world? Then be a cooperator. See how you can work together with others to achieve a common goal. If you’re not a cooperator, you can learn how to be one - thereby changing your culture. If this conclusion is accurate, then we see that the cooperators will be the survivors in the future, much like the fast cheetahs were the survivors. This should apply to cultures on all levels - for individuals as well as countries.

So, how to be a cooperator? That’s another article. For now, you know that some cultural trends, ie beliefs, values, and rules are adaptations, and as such, some are more effective than others so take a good look at which ones you think are contributing to a better life for yourself and the world. Thinking about which ones naturally feel good and which ones naturally feel bad should point you in the right direction - despite whether you currently share these beliefs, rules, and values. We said that cooperation is a “good” value (I believe), but doesn’t necessarily mean we are all cooperators. But just getting conscious of it should help you down that road. Ultimately, we should be excited about this perpective since we can now analyze the trends and put ourselves in line with them. It may be frightening to find the results - like “what if brute hostility turns out to be an increasingly successful meme?”. We may just have to put faith in the universe that the trends are leading in a positive direction. Don’t worry, we’ll try to prove that in another article too.

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