January 1997 Notebook Entries

January 13, 1997...notebook notes

I made a quick visit to NASA's web site and read some background information on weightlessness. I wanted to share my notes with you.

NASA's studies on small animals do suggest that exposure to microgravity (space flight around Earth) do cause changes in the developing nervous systems that detect gravity. The vestibular system (inner ear), parts of the brain that process gravity information, and the neural control of structures that move the structure appear to be affected.

We have all seen the affects on astronauts when they give press conferences after their space flights. We see their difficulties in walking and standing erect. Fortunately, studies have also shown the return to Earth reverses the processes as the brain readapts to Earth's environment.

The speculation that drives my curiosity is: if these physical changes take place in just a short time, (less than one year), what would be the effect if the human astronauts were exposed from birth through mate selection age? (20 years?). Would there be changes in their DNA through chemical mutations which would then be passed through natural selection? In other words, does the human brain quickly adapt to local environments; then attempt to make the temporary adaptations permanent by altering the DNA through chemical mutations; then passes the alterations through natural selection into permanent traits? In summary speculation: Is there a process mechanism that we could call upon before natural selection to help us survive "spikes" in environmental changes?

January 11, 1997...notebook notes

The female of our species are the guardians of the seed. Through them flows all the genetic instructions of our past, which, when intertwined with the cultural longitude and latitude, produces the path to the future that the child she bears will follow

There is greater biological energy required to produce the female egg in comparison to the human sperm.

Since the male perceives the female as a limited reproductive resource, it appears that the male is biologically driven to mate with as many women as possible. This creates a competitive atmosphere between males.

The time required to nurture the egg, give birth to, protect, wean, and teach the newborn child, and still survive in our ancestral past required that the female carefully choose a male who would contribute the most to the success of the off-spring.

It is these requirements of our genetic software that produces what we call mating strategies. Darwin called it sexual selection.

The Five Sexual Selection Strategies

1). The male-male competition for women. (instead of physical battles, the male today accumulates money and toys so that the female will pick him over the other guy).

2). The female choosing the male. (Hired your private investigator yet? Read "The Rules?").

3). Female-female competition for the male. (Stay away from my man you bitch!).

4). Male mate physical preference. (Hey man, check out the bottom on that chick!).

5). Female mate physical preference. (Say girl, check out the thrusters on that guy!).

Mating strategies change with age and culture.