Spiteful mutation hypothesis

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The spiteful mutant hypothesis or Social Epistasis Amplification Model (SEAM) is a hypothesis developed by Michael A. Woodley, Matthew Sarraf and Edward Dutton. It refers to argued form of dysgenics, that is often considered by believers to contribute to negative group behaviors harmful for society in general, though this is often disputed.[1] The theory argues that deleterious genetic mutations in carrier humans can be externalized onto non-carriers via social epistasis.

Generally, the argued dysgenic effect is due to harmful gene variants which, in addition to possibly harmful effects for the carriers of the gene variants, also affect other individuals than the carriers themselves. One example is by becoming "free-riders", unable or unwilling to contribute effectively to the surrounding group/society, and overall taking away resources from the non-carriers. Another is by such genes causing maladaptive changes to group behaviors affecting the reproductive success of the group, such as behaviors involving suppression of "free-riding" and/or mating/nurturing/teaching behaviors beneficial for reproductive success. This may be especially harmful for social animals, such as mice and humans, dependent on individuals being taught social behaviors adaptive for the group. Mutations having such negative behavioral effects, on the reproductive success of others and the group, have been referred to as "spiteful” mutations. Such mutations have been argued to possibly be relatively commonly occurring, since 84% of the human genome is argued to be related to the brain, but to earlier having been removed by natural selection.[2][3]

Dysgenic "spiteful" mutation effects have been argued to explain experimental results finding that a mouse population, living in a "Mouse Utopia" with no resource shortages and thus no natural selection due to this, despite this eventually became extinct due to increasingly maladaptive group behaviors, such as by avoiding sex and poor nurturing of the young. "more and more mutations built-up until the potentially normal mice were a tiny minority who didn’t have the chance to learn appropriate behavior or how to relate to other mice. And, ultimately, almost all the mice were mutants. The rest were totally maladapted and the population died out."[3]

This has been argued to also have implication for humans. "For example, childless women may encourage other women not to have children. Mothers are shamed as “failures” because they didn’t focus on a career. Even non-carriers of maladaptive behavior are impacted. [...] This “Mutational Meltdown” is happening in the West. The authors present clear evidence for it: huge spikes in autism and genetic disorders. This could be extended to include the prevalence of eating disorders, homosexuality, sexual identity problems, and the desire to not have children. “Spiteful mutations” undermine things like religion, which is little more than a way of promoting evolutionary imperatives. For example: go forth and multiply, cooperative with each other, repel the invader."[3]

Another often disputed example of the hypothesis is the behavior of Internet trolls, as well as the majority of users on left-wing websites, including most social media platforms and politically correct blogs and forums, particularly more influential sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, as well as argued problematic editing on progressive wikis such as Wikipedia and RationalWiki.[4]

External links

References

  1. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Spiteful_mutant_hypothesis
  2. Mutations, Engendering Rapid Fitness Decline Among Modernized Populations https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-017-0084-x
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Of Mice and Men: ”Spiteful Mutations” Look Bad For The West https://vdare.com/articles/of-mice-and-men-spiteful-mutations-look-bad-for-the-west
  4. Lunatics Take Over Asylum: Oliver D. Smith, RationalWiki, And The Wikipedeans https://vdare.com/articles/lunatics-take-over-asylum-oliver-d-smith-rationalwiki-and-the-wikipedeans

See also

  • Chavs - often claimed to be an argued example of "spiteful mutations".
  • Great Awokening - argued to be at least partially influenced by "spiteful mutations".