I want to start a discussion about whether intelligence is more important for success and being alpha in today's world or good looks. I started thinking of this when I started tallying up the positives and negatives of my current long-term gf. If we were to have kids, would my kids benefit more from her good looks, or from intelligence from a really smart mom?

This is my take. In nature you see animals becoming alpha purely through their size. The biggest wolf, ram, moose, is alpha. If someone challenges them they'll beat them in a fight. But as you get to less primitive animals, intelligence plays a bigger role. There was a study about bonobo monkeys that found that there are two routes to being the alpha, #1 size and #2 high social status. High social status was created by making alliances, so if there was ever a fight, even though you'd be smaller, teaming up with your buddies you'd win every fight. The way the monkeys made alliances was by sharing food, helping the other monkeys clean their back, etc.

This seems to hold true with humans. The biggest, toughest men are usually the alpha in a group. But sometimes a smaller man is alpha because he has a valuable skill. For example, he might be able to make traps or have really good hand-eye-coordination so he's a great hunter/fisher and as long as he keeps sharing the meat around, he'll be alpha.

In today's world, intelligence is even more valuable. With machines, the highest-paid jobs are those that need intelligence more than physical strength (I'm using intelligence loosely here, perhaps saying knowledge/technical skill is more accurate). We have no dangers from other predators so physical strength is not as important. And, society strongly dis-incentivizes fighting with the legal system, so a bigger and more co-ordinated guy can't become alpha through his physical size by dominating other men in a fight.

But of course physical size is still valuable, our evolutionary conditioning is still there and we naturally ascribe positive traits to bigger guys. Its no surprise that leadership roles are usually occupied by taller guys, ex. CEO and its why in Hollywood the males always have to lie about their height if they're short and playing alpha male roles. And in dating, women universally prefer taller guys.

As for good looks, the main benefit is having a healthier immune system, being more co-ordinated, physically stronger. With our healthcare system, healthy immune systems are less important. We're no longer drinking unsanitized water everyday and dying from diarrhea.

So I would say in today's world it would be better to find a really intelligent woman (This might be different from finding a woman who went to a prestigious school, I'm talking about raw intelligence vs. working hard).

This raises an interesting point because our evolutionary drives are still geared towards finding beautiful women. But this was in a situation where good looks had greater benefits (bigger, stronger immune system, etc.). Because of this, you'd actually be able to date a really intelligent woman who is not as pretty, at a steep discount.

TL:DR Guys want beautiful women. But beautiful women passing on their good looks to your kids is not as beneficial in modern society than it would have been in caveman times. So go for intelligent women? In today's society, "intelligence" (used loosely) is a much bigger asset for your kids. Discuss