Essay Abstract

I have drawn the recommendations I present in my essay from evolutionary biology which latter,I believe, is quite clear on the direction we should steer ourselves if we are to avoid now almost certain omnicidal oblivion. The evolutionary law which governs the relationship between the sexes goes as follows : "Evolutionary viability as critically relies on female centrality//male marginality as it does on the availability of sufficient & suitable subsistence resources". This law obtains simply enough due to females' definitively greater contribution to primary reproduction. If females do not have an existential position of 'centrality' vis a vis the males of their species - which is presently the case in our own circumstance - reproductively active females (our womenfolk) will be unable to optimise their primary reproductive enterprise, under which circumstance the species will inexorably devolve. I believe this is precisely our own predicament at this present time, so the recommendation from evolutionary biology is clear. We must 're-centralise' women in order that they may first relearn how, & then carry out their all-important primary reproductive work at its optimal level - which 'level' is, not at all so incidentally, NOT the largest number of children possible. Far from it, but rather that our mothers will bring our children into this world at more or less exactly the carrying capacity of our evolutionnarily normal socio-ecological milieu, doing so not only entirely free from male domination or direction, but rather with the latter's enthusiastic & unquestioning help & support. Anthropological studies suggest that during prehistory we lived in matrilineal clans in which women were afforded a centrality they have not enjoyed for upwards of roughly 8 - 10,000 years. Unless we reverse the relationship currently existing between the sexes, we're doomed. This, I believe, is the clarion call from evolutionary biology.

Author Bio

I am a 70 yr old amateur Antipodean truth-seeker & an avid nature lover despairing at our present wanton destruction of our once glorious planetary home. I have an unquenchable curiosity for 'life, the universe & everything' & my search for answers eventually led me to evolutionary biology. As you will see in my essay, my interpretation of evolutionary biology & the answers I believe I found therein - & more importantly as evidenced in the natural world at large, are highly unconventional to say the least !

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I disagree. I know of men that are as emotionally and rationally connected to their children and society as any woman. Also, I know of women who abandoned their children, neglected and had their children taken from them ...

However, rational people regardless of gender have a better chance of making broadly considered decisions. Look at Sweden and Norway; these are female dominated countries. The police, lawyers, judges, politicians, company CEO's, ... will likely be women. Their countries are socialist and they live a good life. But the main difference is that the parents and schools teach students how to share respect; it's part of their culture.

quote: "We all know that if we all loved one another - as well as our once glorious Planetary Home - as we could & should, there would be no problems.

If we all loved one another we would take care of each other not hurt & destroy each other or our precious environment. 'Patriarchy' has been called 'the world historic defeat of woman'. But that doesn't say it all, for to defeat woman is to annihilate mothering.

The only source of earthly love is a mother's arms. More accurately, the only source of earthly love are the arms of a truly loving, happy, confident, competent mother - one who desires her child.

As difficult as it may be we must re-centralise women; elevate, re-centralise & support mothers. There is no other viable choice. Mothering must been seen to be the most important & most sacred task on Earth, & we must see to it that women have everything they require in order to accomplish this all important work of loving their children."

I just know of too many contradictions to these statements. Most women are not innately thoughtful and nurturing. They are taught. Most men are not innately arrogant (self-serving and loathing of others), they are taught. Through useful education we can teach sharing respect and being able to work together to move collectively in support of diverse needs towards a sustainable future.

To reduce the population requires not having as many babies. Women are so much more and more diverse than what you describe; as are men.

  • [deleted]

Hi Margriet,

strong views and clear vision, a novel approach to the question.

A few things I disagree with, one is the health long term of a fruitarian diet. Without care it is deficient in a number of nutrients and is high in fructose, that is bad for the body in excess. Not recommended for pregnant women, or children because the foetus and children require all the necessary nutrients for growth and development.

I also think that in most developed countries we have got beyond regarding women as purely for breeding, though not beyond disrespect especially in a number of music genres and music industry videos where blatant sexism is touted. More and more women are choosing to be child free because of the freedom, career opportunities and lifestyle being child free allows.

Even a lion can tell the difference between his own offspring and those of his rival. The rival's offspring he is likely to kill though he will tolerate and protect his own. So I am skeptical about the ignorance of uneducated people regarding the consequences of the sex act.

The idea of having extended families raising children is good. That still happens in some communities. They exist alongside the western culture of nuclear families and variations such as blended families, step families and single parent families. There is no reason why the nuclear family should be regarded as ideal.As you point out a mother is able to access more help and support with extended family around her.

Kind regards, Georgina

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    Georgina, I just wanted to add that we primates are mostly designed to eat leaves and fruit, with the occasional extra fatty something-or-other (animal or vegetable). So I'd agree that just fruit would make us at least somewhat deficient. But a raw fruit diet is probably a while lot better than what most folks eat right now! Best is most likely a raw diet primarily of leafy greens, plus fruits and veggies and nuts/seeds, with the occasional anything else one feels one really wants. No deprivation necessary (since raw plant matter fills us up really well, both calorically and nutritionally), while also getting the most health and happiness.

    Um... That was me right up there. It's never logged me out like that before! (Though I've heard others mention the problem...)

    Dear Ms. O'Regan,

    Your exceptionally well written essay was utterly fascinating, and I do hope that it does well in the competition. Since I retired in 1997, I make sure to eat a bowl of fruit topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream before I go to bed. I am in better health now than I was when I was a lot younger.

    With my highest regards,

    Joe Fisher

    Margriet,

    Well I didn't see that one coming! There's everyone busy discussing how to have far less children and stop population growth, indeed reduce it dramatically, and up you pop with the other viewpoint! What a return to Earth with a bump.

    After consideration I've decided, speaking as a man (never tried otherwise - though Tom suggested literal transvesticism!) that I have no problem with your proposals at all! Once we start populating the Local Group I (I fancy Andromeda) we'll need to get the populus up.

    Can I have a few caveats; To ensure women get a good supply of the best fruit and veg I'll limit myself mainly to carbs, meat and dairy products (I do like a little bit of butter on my bread). I'm also perfectly happy to turn up for reproduction duties with whoever takes a fancy to me, and also to do exactly as I'm told most of the time, designing nice new houses etc.

    I do have a sense of deja vu about it. It does seem to sound a lot like the life I used to lead, or maybe fancied leading, before I got old in fact! Don't most of the guys in Aus do that yet?

    Lovely essay Margriet, highly original, well argued and nicely written.

    I won't twist your arm to read mine this year (though points gratefully received!) unless you now something about 'quantum mechanics' It does make sense of the current nonsense, but the trouble is you probably have to understand the nonsense first to see it's classical solution. Actually it's also a bit of a romance... but prap's you shouldn't bother!

    Best wishes for staying away from the bottom anyway. Keep it up, you're improving all the time.

    Peter

      7 days later

      margriet

      I think you got your message through,though leaning too much on one side.I argue that without the presence of man the woman is useless,so too is man useless without woman,for woman gives forth and nourishes homo sapiens sapiens children,Both man and Woman are essentially needed for procreation and sustenance and mutual trust must exist between the two for survival in hostile environment and prosperity.Life began in Africa,the place of woman in our societies was of value.Its that mutual respect and love in these families that h.sapiens survived to give forth all what we call humanity.I have described abit of that in my essay LIVING IN THE SHADOWS OF THE SUN: REALITIES, PERILS ESCAPADES MAN, PLANET AND KARDASHEV SCALE.MAKING THE GREAT TRANSITION by Michael muteru weblink http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2101.Kinsdly take your precious time to rate/review it.Thanks all the best

      6 days later

      Dear Margriet!

      I read your essay with deep appreciation of your knowledge and enthusiasm about female supportive social arrangement on Earth. It is undoubtedly true there is a male dominance present, and there are yet social structures where the women are even yet in subordinate state very for reproduction, caring for children and keeping housework only.

      However, I do not think, only to adopt a fruitarian diet, and a back to living in maternal/avuncular clans will be enough restoring Planet Earth back to its former state.

      I think, we need carefully discern the male and female as gender types, and male and female as energetic attributes. Living species and also inorganic parts of the nature have male and female characteristics energetically, and some species have male and female sexual types. The word 'reproduction' too, as a noun has at least 3 several of meanings. ( 1. (biology) the process of generating offspring, 2. Recall that is hypothesized to work by storing the original stimulus input and reproducing it during recall 3. Copy that is not the original; something that has been copied).

      I think also, the 'evolutionary biology' is not restricted only for mentioning the process of generating offspring. That may be extended studying all aspects of molecular and non molecular evolution.

      The information as you mentioned on my essay page is not restricted too being bits, bytes, qubits etc., I agree. The information may be any sort of abstraction about living and non living kind. Our thoughts convey and arrange informations . So we would say we all are composed of our thoughts about our reality living as both material and non-material. (The latter means: Information - data or ideas or observations - that can be used or reworked into a finished form)

      We are destined to understand we all are several kind of parts of the original nature which is not created and unconditionally balanced by both male and female energies and also species having gender. Neither of male or female are important. At best we need arrange our thoughts and acts being lived in a balanced welfare.

      Sincerely,

      Valeria

        Margriet

        I expect that many women will be involved in the ELAM movement in order to provide a balanced viewpoint. The objective of the movement is to provide sound advice and promote sound measures to guide humanity's steering of the future operation of the systems of civilization. The movement will need a variety of views, with those of women being necessary.

        Denis

        Dear Margriet!

        Let me correct a sentence written above in my comment. I wrote it ambiguously.

        "...Neither male or female in any meaning are more important. The importance is balance!"

        Sincerely,

        Valeria

        Dear Mrs Margriet,

        I am delighted to see an active woman at your age in this competition. It's appreciated! But unfortunately I can see that you do not respond to the previous comments posted by members of the forum. Your good essay could have been more warm by your response to these great comments.

        Regards

        Gbenga

        Dear Mrs Margriet O'Regan

        You gave an interesting presentation of one form of social relations. I think, that one culture in China is the most evident. Is this Mosuo? We can ask ourselves, what is the most typical reason that such community survived. Maybe they had not needed so much security as other communities on the world. What do you think?

        You gave an example of impact of women on ecology. But, if women would really be so enthusiastic about ecology, we would today have electrical cars in majority. Namely, men buy cars also as a status symbol, or a symbol of a social position. They use them as boasting in the presence of women. If the women would be enraptured with buyers and developers of such cars, such cars would be today in majority. Where the motivation is, the way is also paved. But, maybe you can give also this appeal to women, beside your theory. Namely, life in cities would be much more improved if the majority of cars would be electrical.

        My essay

        p.s. For my essay I searched data about some lake in one cave when one species of fishes lives. Their number is controlled so that they eat each other. As a biologist, do you maybe know the name of this lake, cave and fishes?

        Best regards Janko Kokosar

        Hello Margriet,

        Perhaps I should begin by saying Hail the Goddess! I find myself largely in agreement with the central thesis of your essay, but with female choice being what it is today, and given what the historical record has shown, I have my doubts that a matriarchal society would stay that way for long. Part of it is that the tradition of child-bearing and child-rearing has eroded, so this important role is no longer given the emphasis it should have. A sub-theme of my essay is that nurturing the intellectual growth of our children has fallen between the cracks, which is largely due to shifting the roles of females in our society away from nurturing children. As luck would have it; I have had quite a few long discussions with women who champion the view presented in your essay, and some of my caveats about your conclusions come from insights and information provided by those women. Specifically; it appears that female choice was its own undoing, because the women in ancient times did not take responsibility for some of the institutions created in their honor - and delegated those responsibilities to men, effectively putting them in power.

        Leonard Schlain's book "The Alphabet and the Goddess" details how language and writing became the exclusive province of men, in part because women did not want to be bothered with the tedium of record keeping. If we go further back; the earliest cave paintings and petroglyphs appear to be made by female hands, but this duty was later assumed by men. Likewise; in a lecture by Elspeth Odbert, she talked about the advent of money being traced to a practical problem in temples of The Goddess, where offerings of all kinds were brought by men hoping to be chosen as a consort (i.e. - looking for sex), but things got messy when one brought chickens and another brought grain (and so on) - all of which had to be assigned a relative value. So it was decided it would be simpler and less messy to issue coins in trade for goods, and if such exchanges were taken out of the temple itself. However; there were consequences to giving away the control of written language and money, that were not foreseen at the outset. In addition; warfare was also considered too messy and risky for women to be directly involved with, so the duties of war were also assigned to men. But again; this put the power of choice in the hands of males, which had traditionally been reserved for women. Men simply took responsibility for the duties ancient women assigned them, and this gave them unprecedented power.

        For women to regain a place of prominence; they must start by taking responsibility for the institutions society created to serve them. Ergo; it is extreme hubris for you to assert that on the one hand women should be made the rulers of our world, and on the other hand to assert that they can abdicate involvement in things like Math and Science. Rather; it is only when women stop holding these things in disdain that are now considered male roles, that they can reclaim their former power. Frankly; I don't see this happening, unless women take a much more active role in those very activities you have said it is OK for men to specialize. I see no chance of your goals being realized unless women do come to fancy some of the technical pursuits and sciences that are male-dominated fields, like Math, Physics, and Computing.

        All the Best,

        Jonathan

          6 days later

          Thank you, Peter, for your kind remarks !!!

          Right off the bat, though, yes, population is almost if not quite entirely the number one problem we face (other than men controlling everything). Your comments seemed to suggest that you thought that I said 're-centralising' women would jump our numbers UP! I meant to make it quite clear that our numbers would plummet with women in control of their lives especisally including their reproductive enterprise. The "opimum" number of children is not the same as having "lots" of them. Our closest cousins bear young only every 5 or 6 years.

          Do you remember "God" telling Abraham (one of the original (& worst) patriarchs) that his seed/children would number as the sands of the sea. Well one way or another it's come true - but look where it's got us !!!!

          I'll have a peep at your essay as I also love physics.

          Cheers - Margiet

          Margriet,

          Thanks for you post on mine. To save a search I responded as follows;

          "I promise you QM isn't my 'favourite topic' by a long way! History has proved conclusively that despite our common view it's the advancement of understanding of physical nature that has always dictated and directed our development. Our psyche has rather followed behind, confounded by what it all means!

          I argue and demonstrate the power of advancement of THINKING methodology. Stop using brains as repositories, use them to find and challenge old assumptions and 'analyse' better. Our brains have the capacity, as Judy says; we just need to teach them how and practice it.

          That's what my essays's really about, making a real tangible LEAP in the right direction, realistically possible immediately! What other essay does so?! I'm a little sad I've failed to get that across (to so many the way my scores keep building but slipping back down). But of course we all THINK that we think outside all the boxes so ignore the greater possibilities. Energy without fossil fuels then slips back to the future a little more!

          Thanks kindly for reading it anyway. I hope you may at least have seen how the nonsense of QM CAN be understood classically, unifying understanding (I hope you saw the end note experiment you can do at home)."

          I hope you may now better see it's relevance and value. I do action not just semantics. I've just checked and I scored yours, raising it from the mid 3's. Well done again for your powerfully Amazonian and well argued proposition.

          Best wishes

          Peter

            Hello Margriet

            As an artist I have a great love for the female 'look' - beauty yes, but more importantly that sense of 'knowing what it is all about' that a strong "insensitive" male face blocks out. The mothering must have something to do with this close understanding of humanity's needs. So I do understand and sympathise with your main thesis, that we men have led our race to the edge of extinction and are still at it, "leading", "steering" and "guiding", and it is time to let the females take charge.

            Trouble is that in their struggle for equality some women in many Western cultures have almost abandoned this essential gentle mothering side, even when they are actually mothers. At the same time effeminate men tend to be encouraged in cultures like Japan. Is all of this leading to a unisex society where men and women share - when possible - roles and duties?

            I am 72, so the working out of these ideas and trends will become clearer after our time! And I am so happy to see the affection my daughter lavishes on her two-year old boy even as she has a successful career in a profession traditionally manned by men (pun intended). The protagonists in my essay-scenario are all men, but now you made me realise that I should have included women!

            Best wishes

            Vladimir

              Margriet,

              I forgot to mention, I'm not 'shocked' by the Electric Universe and Thunderbolts project as I've been very familiar with Wal Thornhill and the whole groups work for some time. Mainstream theoretical doctrine mainly hates plasma as it doesn't 'fit' old models and is still poorly understood, yet it's the essential at the heart of most other physics!

              Many of the EU2014 lectures were authoritative and brilliant. I do however have to distance myself from the odd excess such as the 'Thunderbolts of the Gods' video which I think could undermine the solid credibility of the work for many. Why so many deny electricity in space, half the EM phenomena, is quite beyond me. Fundamentally the problems all stem from the prohibition of a field in the flawed original 'interpretation' of SR. The disciples grasp it like a lifeline!

              Have you read my logical cosmology paper explaining the coherent role of plasmas yet? There are various preprint links around.

              Best wishes

              Peter

                Super !!! I'm really chuffed to find another EU-er !!! & I agree that the mythological stuff is a real hurdle to the whole thing.

                I only bothered to re-examine that approach after months & months of absorbing all the plasma & electrical science.

                Valles marinaris on Mars (not to omit all of its other topographical features) has become one the most convincing bits of evidence for me that our planets were in some kind of gargantuan electrical drama not so long ago.

                And as geology is also one of my most favourite interests, I also find the EU interpretation of many of our own most spectacular topographical features - including our Uluru here in Oz - overwhelmingly convincing.

                Back to another seminal weakness in their "Thunderbolts of the Gods" approach. Given that the Old Testament is full of 'fire & brimstone' raining down from the heavens - not to omit the Sun standing still etc - WHY in God's name (to coin a phrase !) do they not include those stories in their lists of evidence ?? It is because they don't wish to offend any Christians in their midst - which reticence was hinted at somewhere in their exegesis. Great pity. Given that the entire West is pretty much based on the Bible.

                Peter, I'm not very good at looking things up via the net yet. I'd love it if you'd email me where I can view your cosmological paper - or better yet just email it to me at margrietanne@hotmail.com ??? I'd really like that, thanks.

                Cheers,

                Margriet Anne O'Regan