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A relationship between human intelligence and sexual antagonism?
Another possible consideration for a trait heavily influenced by sexual antagonism is the phenomenally high level of intelligence in human beings. It may be reasonable to think that there exists some relationship between human intelligence and sexual antagonism because the rapid increase in our brain size is evolutionarily marked by the development of language. As we developed a more sophisticated means of communication, we opened doors to a refined and precise system of various signals and responses. Many of these types of systems can be super-stimulated via an emotional or instinctual reaction which changes the receptive nature in favor of the gene set responsible for compensating for the over-stimulation. Basically this means that over time, what was once thought overwhelming will become the norm.
Perhaps not at this exact moment in time, but somewhere along the line, it will be of huge significance not only to better understand sexual conflict as a very relevant evolutionary force, but also to develop a better grasp on the extremely influential evolutionary forces that we have yet to consider, especially stabilizing or destabilizing forces that, on the surface, don’t exactly fall under Darwin’s natural selection theory of “survival of the fittest.” There is a whole world of changes happening constantly: in every atom, molecule, cell, organism, social construct, planet, galaxy, etc.; so there must exist, in vastly greater numbers, causes of these changes. As we learn more about how each individual contributes to the whole, we leave ourselves exposed to tremendous insight into the nature of life and existence, so long as we remain open to them.
