Quote: (05-20-2013 02:04 PM)soup Wrote:Nature wants health in general. Looks are actually a signal of how healthy you are. Your facial symmetry indicates a lot more than just face. There have been studies done about facial asymmetry and mental illness. There seems to be a correlation.
Quote: (05-20-2013 01:44 PM)Eirykr Wrote:
Quote: (05-20-2013 01:32 PM)soup Wrote:
Thanks for clarifying. So are you saying that it's possible for two ugly people to birth an attractive? What are the odds?
I'm taller than both my parents.
Right. The odds depend on several factors: Are your grandparents attractive? Great grandparents? Are the attractive features in question unisex or only considered attractive to one sex but not the other? (Linebacker shoulders on your son = great, daughter, not so much) And every trait has it's own particular pattern in expression. Sometimes a certain trait will almost always skip a generation. Some traits will cancel others out.
For example, common knowledge would say that you would end up between your parents height. My mom for example was 5'5" and my dad 6'3", and I ended up being 5'10", but you are obviously an exception to this rule. It happens, not often, but it can.
All you can do is hedge your bets by trying to breed with an attractive person. That's what females of every species have been doing via sexual selection since the dawn of time.
Maybe nature has a larger MO.. other than producing attractive people.
But if this were the case, than why are attractive people attractive in the first place? If it's almost random, why did we evolve to desire attractive people?
The golden ratio is the mathematical beauty formula found in flowers, in music, just about everywhere. That's the standard.
Like Eyrikr said, it's about making the best bet. That's mate selection.