Evolutionary Basis for Balding

[timtak]

From a evolutionary point of view, everything that is prevalent has an evolutionary basis. Even disease and death are "evolutionary" in that without them there would be no variation and without variation the species would not be able to get better or respond to changes in the environment.

Why has baldness evolved?

My guess: Baldness is associated with aging and aging is usually associated with negatives, especially from the opposite sex that want a partner that can care for their offspring.

Hence, perhaps baldness evolved to encourage some men to get a move on, to procreate earlier than others in their cohort, and thus to spread the stress on resources (as opposed to the situation in which all males from the same generation tended to find mates at the same time).

Do baldies procreate sooner? Have you been motivated to find a mate quicker? I was not! So this is all just a guess.

Perhaps baldness is completey random? Personally I think that there is some evolutionary explanation even if it is not the one above.

[Chavster]

I first had sex when I was 14. I had plenty of hair. The reason I first had sex at 14 was because I was a horny swine. I'm now in my late 40s, and nothing has changed in that respect.

I understand your post is based on your own guesses, but even taking that into account, you do seem to see this whole baldness thing as very black and white. As in all things in life, there's usually a grey area.

[timtak]

Hello again GSGUK
Thanks for your reply.

I am not sure why you think I see things in black and white. I mentioned above that I did not procreate early, even as I suggested that baldness might be a way of encouraging some males to do so.

Anyway.....

When I said above that disease and death are evolutionary, I meant disease in general. We are programmed to die one way or another. Aging is planned obsolesence.

Each individual disease, especially infectious ones (with external causes), may also be seen as failure to adapt to the environment, a failure to beat/escape from predators. Congenital deafness, blindness, or cleft lips, may also be interpretted as random disabilities, or defects.

Is that an appropriate way to interpret balding? A random error. A defect. A small, not too important, defect but a defect all the same?

Or does balding serve some purpose?

It seems to be so prevalent that it must have an evolutionary purpose.

[Chavster]

Or we could interpret a full head of hair as being a random defect. After so many years of evolution, perhaps those with lots of hair (head or otherwise) might not have evolved as much as the rest of us.

Studies indicate that men with a higher level of testosterone have a higher incidence of MPB.

Does it prove that only the most masculine cavemen amongst us are 'real men who evolved properly', and that everyone else is a defect of the evolution process? Are men with a full head of hair somehow a little more feminine than the rest of us?

Should everyone have lost all of their hair by this point in evolution?

As for the black and white thing, although your posts are designed to read as talking points and conversation starters, you seem very (perhaps overly) focused on the negative and positive sides of baldness. There is a grey area, being the men who dont care one way or the other. Yet you dont seem to have covered those men yet. Hopefully you will do soon, to keep everything balanced

[timtak]

I am not sure about my posts in general but in this one I am trying to understand balding as NOT a random "defect" but as a signal or spur.

As you say, there may be a correlation between testosterone and balding.

Testosterone has good and bad points.

From a woman's point of view, in circumstances where society is unstable/unsafe it may be better to procreate with a guy who has high testosterone levels and is good at agression, when society is stable it may be better to procreate with a guy who is like a furry, cudly sheep. Perhaps MPB exists to tell females the type of guy (soldier or sheep) they are meeting so that they can make an informed choice?

(the point of this thread for me is to get away from the random defect view of balding, cause I don't see balding as a random defect)

[Razor X]

From a woman's point of view, in circumstances where society is unstable/unsafe it may be better to procreate with a guy who has high testosterone levels and is good at agression, when society is stable it may be better to procreate with a guy who is like a furry, cudly sheep. Perhaps MPB exists to tell females the type of guy (soldier or sheep) they are meeting so that they can make an informed choice?

No woman wants to procreate with a guy who's  like a furry, cuddly sheep. 

[Chavster]

From a woman's point of view, in circumstances where society is unstable/unsafe it may be better to procreate with a guy who has high testosterone levels and is good at agression, when society is stable it may be better to procreate with a guy who is like a furry, cudly sheep. Perhaps MPB exists to tell females the type of guy (soldier or sheep) they are meeting so that they can make an informed choice?

No woman wants to procreate with a guy who's  like a furry, cuddly sheep. 

Not sure you're right about that.

Have you never visited www.womenwhowanttoprocreatewithaguywhoslikeafurrycuddlysheep.com/forum ?

There's a lot of interesting posts on there. Definitely worth a look