Beta as evolutionary trait - why is it here?

_ManGuy_ · 2015-09-19T21:25:46+00:00

Society wasn't as PC and pampered as back in caveman times. How many people do you know fuck shit up with clubs or resort to violence for a meal?

cheeky_throwaway101 · 2015-09-19T22:07:20+00:00

We live in a time where it is illegal to hit a woman, even controlling her to any degree will get you known as the "abusive" boyfriend. Now I don't condone hitting women in any way. But in this day and age, they are literally allowed to operate in anyway they want. They can create a tornado of shit through anyones life, grabbing anything they want, stomping on anyone who gets in their way. Think about that for a second.

If you could go into any shop, pick anything off the shelves, put it in your pocket, or eat it right in front of the cashier, take a shit on the conveyor belt and walk out pissing on the security guards shoes, without paying for anything, with no social objection or ramifications. With no parents, or society teaching you, that to act like that is inappropriate, of course you would. And why not?

Western women are the most privileged group ever to walk the planet, they can do whatever they feel with nothing to stop them.

Although in the second world war, men were men, they were also gentlemen (a lot of them). They treated their women with respect and romantically with gestures. However if their women stepped out of line, the social stigma, the slut shaming, the relentless criticism that the women would receive, most of the time would be enough to prevent them from doing so. Even great men such as Winston Churchill, the most alpha of alphas had to accept women for what they were when his wife Clementine wanted to experience life by riding the carousel around the world.

Betas existed to provide for families, families are good for the morale of men, men with high morale work better. This creates more productivity, which in turn grows the economy.

Now we have women who want to do the (easy) work of the men, there is absolutely no point in having families, as keeping people separate creates more productivity. (As there are less women having babies.)

Needless to say, people are more miserable than ever. Unless of course you have fully swallowed the pill and can realise the game for what it is, and enjoy it to your advantage.

Will the Beta die out? I think so. There is just no need for them.

pancake_friday · 2015-09-19T23:38:40+00:00

I haven't thought this through yet, but there are two things to always keep in mind when thinking about why a certain property is present in a population:

The world that we live in is in some ways drastically different from the world our ancestors lived in. Some traits that were beneficial up until the very recent past could be detrimental now. Hence: obesity, sickle-cell anemia, etc.
Individuals don't compete on an evolutionary scale, genes do. This is the primary epiphany behind Richard Dawkins' book "The Selfish Gene". When thinking about evolution, do not think about it from the standpoint of the individual, think about it from the standpoint of the gene. So a beta acting in a way that is clearly not good for him, could have a very simple explanation indeed, if it ensures the propagation of his genes.

Edit: I'll add a third. It is overly simplistic to talk about a beta "gene". In reality the state of the beta is far more complex than could be explained by a single strain / mutation.

animalpoo · 2015-09-20T00:50:50+00:00

Darwinism; survive, adapt, reproduce.

In groups of primates there's usually one Alpha male who does all the reproducing. If he sees a beta primate trying to fuck a female, he will attack. Now the betas have their own methods of following Darwin's laws to ensure the survival of their genes. When the alphas back is turned, they get all sneaky and blow their load into a female as fast as possible, the alpha is none the wiser. Two different mating strategies but both follow Darwin's laws.

Betas still have a place in our society, it may not be as black and white as primates but they serve a purpose. The washed up chick with 2 kids to Mr Alpha, settles with Mr Beta and has another child. The unfuckable women will still pass on their genes to "Men" who are desperate etc etc

Blerks · 2015-09-20T06:57:52+00:00

Humanity isn't like a herd of horses, where only one alpha mates with all the available females. There are plenty of beta-ish men who get married, have kids, and lead perfectly reasonable lives. But they don't need, look for, or post on TRP, so you won't hear about them. TRP is for men who are unhappy with their lives, almost always a result of too much beta in their personalities, trying to develop their alpha side.

I think the reason beta characteristics survive isn't because being beta is a sexual strategy, but because giving beta men monogamous partners (add air quotes if you like) is a survival strategy for a society. Too many men with no prospect of success or sex leads to unrest, and more working men in families means more money transferred to women/children, which means a better off next generation.

You're thinking and questioning, which is good. TRP theory oversimplifies some stuff in the name of accessibility, and although I understand why it does so it's important to remember there are some issues. For example: if nearly everyone is starting out from the position of too much beta, there's no need to point out that you need some beta qualities to maintain a LTR. You only need to mention that when someone's having relationship problems because they won't give their LTR comfort.

I highly recommend reading this book, it has some answers to the questions you're asking: Is There Anything Good About Men? by professor Roy Baumeister. It describes (among other things) how society uses men, both nowadays and in the past.

Zinamam · 2015-09-20T13:11:35+00:00

Because it's not a hereditary gene as such and relies on other factors such as upbringing. It's more prevalent in western countries where men are brought up to suppress their alpha qualities and consume censored/beta media (lacking in masculine role models etc.)

awalt_cupcake · 2015-09-19T20:14:50+00:00

This is like asking if weakness is an evolutionary trait

Title	Beta as evolutionary trait - why is it here?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	7
Comments	14
Date	September 19, 2015 8:03 PM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/3llgvo/beta_as_evolutionary_trait_why_is_it_here/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/beta-as-evolutionary-trait-why-is-it-here.154053 https://theredarchive.com/post/154053

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