Blog Assigment 2

I read the Newsweek article, Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around? and, number one, I would have to say that I do not believe that these hypotheses are testable-at least right now.  If the physical cause of rape/violence/infidelity could be located (say, a rape gene) than perhaps we could prove whether or not these traits are adaptive or caused by evolution.  Otherwise, the argument is most definitely, not scientific.  There may be another way to close these VERY open-ended questions, but I do not, personally, know of any.  The arguments that these traits are cultural rather than biological, and even that evolution has 'trained' us to be versatile and flexible (the 'it depends' axiom) are logical indeed, but it is still only postulating.   They cannot, nor can the idea of evolution as the cause of negative behavior be disproved.  These are very 'touchy' ideas, and I can understand why someone would want to discuss, and even conduct research about, them.  I simply do not believe that they can be, at this point, scientifically testable. The assumption that these behaviors are adaptive cannot be disproved, and therefore cannot be tested.