Why isn't everyone beautiful?

[Deleted]

People are attracted to beautiful people, so by that logic you'd think they were the only people breeding and would eventually evolve away from beauty. That may be true to some extent, but there's one major flaw in that logic. Ugly people have always been able to find partners. They get them by being smart, funny, or other non physical properties or just by finding an equally unattractive partner. So their genes also pass on. Of course beauty can be subjective, but obviously were referring to beauty as the timeless beauties that 99.99% of people like and have always liked: tall muscular men with a pretty face and nice hair (MPB is never really predictable and hot 20 year olds could have it) and skinny, but with sexy wide hips and a pretty face for women.

True. There is absolutely no way in hell that even an ugly person would not find a mate. In fact the only way to not breed is to actively refuse to have children.

[Shadowferal]

I watched "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie after watching "Tomb Raider" Alicia Vikander. I hate to say it but the overall look makes a difference.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

I watched "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie after watching "Tomb Raider" Alicia Vikander. I hate to say it but the overall look makes a difference.

Which way though?

[Deleted]

I watched "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie after watching "Tomb Raider" Alicia Vikander. I hate to say it but the overall look makes a difference.

Most people find a certain pattern to be considered attractive. Just like a work of art. There are more people who will appreciate the statue of a nude woman, than a chaotic mass of tentacles called "modern art". Both works of art are beautiful to some people, though, just not in the same measure.

Likewise, a movie is a work of art. Of course most people appreciate a visually pleasing image, rather than bland and plain one.

[Volitar]

You need ugly people to have beautiful people.

[Shadowferal]

Which way though?

Jolie in her prime is gorgeous to look at...which originally was the way Tomb Raider was all about anyway.

[Revi]

Beauty is a social construct.

Sounds a bit too simple. Either many birds, fish, bugs, all sorts of animals including humans are born with an innate social construct - or it's not actually just a social construct.

[Hilhen7]

Who knows, with progress in genetics and in vetro fertilization, perhaps everyone will be able to make the most attractive babies their genes can make, and eventually ugly people will fade out. Of course this would just cause the gap of ugly vs hot to shrink and someone could be considered ugly for not having the right nose even though they're flawless otherwise.

If everyone starts to look like clones someone that looks different could possibly become exotic, and beautiful?

[Vanyali]

Jolie in her prime is gorgeous to look at...which originally was the way Tomb Raider was all about anyway.

tomb raider wasn't about pretty woman ever, it was about the adventures of the bouncing square tits

[Cyanu]

Does evolution favor beautiful people? Do they have more kids? Are their children more likely to survive?

Are there any benefits to being plain?

not really, beauty standards have varied from one culture to another and from one era to another, not to mention that they're subject to taste as well (at least parts of it)

for example there have been times in history (even today in some places where famine is still an issue) in which beauty has been linked to being overweight or even obese, what kind of benefit could that possibly have, that said having a dangerously low percentage of body fat (for that 'sharp' 8pack) is no good either

likewise having delicate features like modern day models has no utilitarian advantage if anything it's frail, a slim 'french' nose is much easier to get broken and slim wrists/knees etc are also more likely to suffer injuries than their thick boned counterparts

now there are some beauty standards that are objective that have to do with the symmetry of one's bodily and facial features, those are indeed a sign of good genes
but again there doesn't seem to be any particular benefit other than looks

then there are some features that imply fertility to women and physical strength to men which are indeed found attractive and evolution-wise do make sense as a strong hunter with a fertile mate would be indeed more likely to survive and have offsprings but that stuff belong in another era, if anything is left from them is evolutionary remnants from a dark age

nowdays tbh appearance is not that important unless you're into PR or fashion industry for anything else it's a secondary trait, it doesn't even seem to matter that much in flirting/dating (at the ages that matter at least) so...

[Nihilist74]

How do we really know what beautiful is? We only know what it is relative to what we have been taught. We know what we are sexually attracted to so we can call that beautiful. I have seen many women that i would consider beautiful that i am not sexually attracted too.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

Jolie in her prime is gorgeous to look at...which originally was the way Tomb Raider was all about anyway.

Oh they're both attractive, but some will prefer one over the other and it will be different from person to person.

[Deleted]

tomb raider wasn't about pretty woman ever, it was about the adventures of the bouncing square tits

That is very much true. Amazing how can a pair of boobs turn a shit game into a critically acclaimed masterpiece.

Reminds me of Skyrim. After playing it for 1500 hrs and being effectively DONE with it, I ran across a bunch of mods that quite literally and from all points of view, turn the game into porn game where you can play as a nymphomaniac demon lady. Totally revitalized it.

[Lochton]

Isn't beauty just a social perception of a person that is mirrored onto others, and yourself over time? You might be beautiful but even enough social interaction to say you aren't will suddenly change your own view of yourself.

[Master Guns]

You need to realize that the idea of beauty is a social construct created by us to categorize ourselves.

Our DNA, what makes us us, doesn't know if we're beautiful or not. Our bodies don't know if other human beings find us attractive - it's literally a non existent societal stigma that we've done ourselves.

This may not make sense to some, but that's probably because our society is so permeated and saturated with the idea of beauty that it seems that it must be biological, but it's purely a mental observation.

Now, I'm not talking about survival of the fittest, where yes some DNA traits carry over to be better, faster, stronger, traits people may PERCEIVE as beautiful, such as a man being born with a fast metabolism, great muscle density through genetics, and great physical prowess (He looks better, right? He's more beautiful? Wrong, he's more of a protector, provider, etc, something the female species recognize on a biological level) - this is not beauty, however, this is something else entirely. If you study psychology you would understand what I mean.

[PC2]

now there are some beauty standards that are objective that have to do with the symmetry of one's bodily and facial features, those are indeed a sign of good genes

Good point.

but again there doesn't seem to be any particular benefit other than looks

We don't understand the benefits, but there has to be a reason as to why there are preferences. It can't be purely random. For example one theory is that symmetry is objectively useful when it comes to efficiency and re-use of information in DNA.

[Deleted]

People today are clearly at least taller than the people of only 50 years ago, and they continue to get taller. I was tall when I was a teenager. Nowadays if you walk by a highschool, you swear most of the students are basketball players or something. A lot of them are fucking giants.

That's not evolution, that's a better diet.

There have definitely been evolutionary changes in recent times, such as our adaptations to being able to digest lactose, but when it comes to height, that's largely epigenetic and diet based, NOT actually a change in the proportion of any genes in the human population

Beauty is not a set thing. It changes with culture and time. two hot people fucking are always going to have hot kids. Also many unattractive people breed.

To some extent you are correct, certain components of beauty are social and culture, but largely it is also genetic, and yes unattractive people breed too, but that doesn't mean attractive people did not historically have higher chances of passing their genes on/having more kids.

https://psmag.com/environment/17-to-...uctive-success

Most of the selection regarding attractiveness was done on the side of females picking males, before monogamy was popularized the effective breeding population was 4 times lower for men than it was for women, meaning that only 1 in 4 men had offspring as a historical trend and at certain points such as the advent of agriculture, the numbers were as extreme as only 1 in 17 men reproducing, and I can assure you these men were more likely to be attractive than their non reproducing counterparts (also more intelligent, higher social status (which is tied to attractiveness), etc)).

No. Physical appearance has nothing to do with health nor fertility. It's purely a human observation thing.

Yes it fucking does, you mongrel. Why do people who are completely uneducated on the subject always have to speak their mind FOR ONE, attractiveness is correlated to a good immune system, because children who suffer from diseases in early childhood have more facial asymmetry, some of that is due to the diseases preventing proper symmetrical development, the other part is them having more unhealthy genes to begin with.

Beauty is a social construct.

Lmao, no.

It's a sign of genetic health and is heavily correlated with facial symmetry.

https://sites.psu.edu/evolutionofhum...ttractiveness/

A simple google search.

"The Evolutionary Advantage theory proposed that symmetrical faces are perceived as more attractive because the symmetry indicates good health in an individual. Everyone’s genes are designed to develop a face perfectly symmetrical, but as we grow, develop, and then age, disease, infections, and parasites cause imperfection in our appearance (asymmetry). Thus, those that have less asymmetry and imperfections, are perceived as having better and stronger immune systems to withstand the infections and parasites that occur naturally. So, symmetry is a good indicator of a person having good genes to pass on their offspring. Under the Evolutionary Advantage view of symmetric preferences, we have evolved to prefer symmetry and perceive it as attractive because over human history we have consistently and constantly preferred healthier individuals for mates. In sum, the Evolutionary Advantage view suggests that attraction to symmetric individuals reflects an attraction to healthy individuals who would be good mates."

This isn't some fringe theory, it's accepted by most evolutionary biologists

There was also this study I read a few years back, I can't seem to find or cite it right now, but it found that people who suffered different diseases or generally just experienced poor health as children had a STRONGER preference for symmetrical faces as opposed to the general population, it was hypothesized that these people were more strongly predisposed to seeking out mates with healthy immune systems to offset their own, failings.

[Erous]

Beauty is very subjective. Personally I've found that in the US, women find me attractive in one state and not in another, on a pretty frequent occasion. I've gone so far as to ask directly if someone found me attractive, then proceed to ask them from which state or region of the US they're from, and the results have been consistent.

[melodramocracy]

You wouldn't be able to discern beauty without its opposite. Just like good / evil.

- - - Updated - - -

You need to realize that the idea of beauty is a social construct created by us to categorize ourselves.

Our DNA, what makes us us, doesn't know if we're beautiful or not. Our bodies don't know if other human beings find us attractive - it's literally a non existent societal stigma that we've done ourselves.

This may not make sense to some, but that's probably because our society is so permeated and saturated with the idea of beauty that it seems that it must be biological, but it's purely a mental observation.

Now, I'm not talking about survival of the fittest, where yes some DNA traits carry over to be better, faster, stronger, traits people may PERCEIVE as beautiful, such as a man being born with a fast metabolism, great muscle density through genetics, and great physical prowess - this is not beauty, however, this is something else entirely. If you study psychology you would understand what I mean.

Not really. There are observable proportions that will "generally" be considered beautiful, or at least more appealing, especially when you bring bodies into the equation.

[Aitch]

People today are clearly at least taller than the people of only 50 years ago, and they continue to get taller. I was tall when I was a teenager. Nowadays if you walk by a highschool, you swear most of the students are basketball players or something. A lot of them are fucking giants.

While true, that has nothing to do with the classic idea of genetic evolution through natural selection. Those trends are entirely due to lifestyle and dietary changes.