An article I read today (Facing Their Scars, and Finding Beauty) reminded me of a subject I have been meaning to tackle. We all know that physically attractive people find mates more easily. What would happen to people’s mating strategies if, in the event of a catastrophe such as a nuclear war, an entire population became physically disfigured? Assuming they still had the ability to procreate, would they be able to overcome the physical repulsion? The underlying question, of course, is how important are physical attributes versus social attributes. Kubrick touched upon the subject in Dr. Strangelove, with two characters discussing the rebuilding of the population in the aftermath of nuclear war:

General “Buck” Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn’t that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious… service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.

I have always been envious of women’s uncanny ability to read emotions. It could be sample bias, but I have consistently found men to be pretty bad at this. Often I find myself walking away obliviously from a social encounter when a woman will remark to me, “Didn’t you notice such-and-such?” At least I have a gaydar!

People with this ability must be perceptive; to be able to subliminally interpret visual cues given off by other people. I’m way too absent-minded for this kind of thing. I have also noticed that it is a skill easily lost without practice.

Here is a short story: take a maladjusted man, give him a keen intuition and let him loose for a day. See how he takes advantage of his new sense.

…while maintaining an impression of desirability? I discussed this subject with Mark a few months ago in an attempt to come up with a believable story. He suggested that the heroine be young (ignorant of “the rules”) and bold. Can such a person still be feminine, whatever that means?
Perhaps through a change in demeanor as the relationship progresses?

I was poking around the Web for a scientific perspective when I came across a paper entitled Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counterstereotypical impression management. You can’t get closer than that! The paper was published in 1998, and has since garnered 56 citations which I will need to sift through. I shall be grateful to anybody who tells me which ones are worth reading.

Note to self for another entry: What qualities do males and females look for in a mate?

Another interesting topic: the turmoil of imperial disintegration. Are ethnically heterogeneous empires more susceptible to collapse? It is a reasonable supposition: the ethnic and religious diversity would provide strongs faults along which the empire would partition. If so, it is something of a conundrum: that which makes a country stronger (diversity), also makes it more likely to eventually collapse. The bigger they are, the mightier they fall. If my hypothesis is true, of course.

A recent article in the NYT, Strange City. Thankless Job. Heartless Russian Winter writes about how people from the corners of the former USSR are flocking to Moscow to avoid unemployment.

That is easy to understand: people who have been living under Communism can’t be expected to suddenly wake up with entrepreneurial talents. The interesting part is how people who lived in peace before the collapse have turned on one another. I think it is a defense mechanism; a way of justifying the separation, believing that the “other” people weren’t worth living with.

Yet another case of fact triumphing over fiction. Janny Scott of the NYT writes about the housing situation in NY in Talk About Renting a Hole in the Wall. Apparently, the situation is so bad that people are renting out parts of their apartment!

The article was accompanied by a hilarious illustration of the tenant demonstrating how to board a bed…on the wall! I can just imagine the absurd situations these roommates must find themselves in. Comedic gold, to be sure, but I would need a suitable apartment to shoot in. Anyone in the Boston area willing to help?