Open Letter to Geeks

Do you feel the nasty looks when you get your midterm test back?  Do you find that you peers are disturbed by your consistent A+ scores?  Do you feel rejected by the “cool” guys when the instructor or teacher or professor mentions your name as exemplary student?  Do you get cold shoulders from girls who prefer the masculine, tall, good looking athletes, who indeed can’t spell their own names, but boy, can they jump, hit, run, swim and throw?  Do you feel that your drive for excellence, your achievements and accomplishments, your preference of math and sciences over ball games is an obstacle to an outstanding social life?  Are you a nerd?  A geek?  A “techie”?

You are not alone.  You are in good company.  And while being an odd looking, strange acting teenager, dreaming of the prom queen, you might actually be surprised to know, that in die time, the prom queen will be after you.  Yes, it’s true.  She will pay no attention to the motorcycle driving, long haired, tattooed, cool looking guys with the low grades.  She will hunt you down, get you settled and make children with you.  Why, you ask?  Evolution, I say young man, evolution.

Women, (actually females in general) choose a mate based on their ability to provide for the expected offspring.  The reason is simple.  Carrying a baby, taking care of it during childhood, (lets face it, we rear our children to the day we die), is a very resource intensive task.  Other species are different.  Females are expecting almost nothing from males except good genes.  But in few species, humans included, males are expected to provide more than good genes (although that is still expected), males are expected to provide.  On a side note, this is not to say that women are not completely capable to provide for their own offspring.  They can, of course.  However, a partnership in bringing up children, is still better.  In all those species expecting makes to stick around and pay their share in upbringing offspring, females select males based on their good genes, but also based on their proven ability or potential to provide.

So nature works this way.  When young, careless, and uncommitted, human females choose the good looking, masculine, tall guys.  But when time comes to settle down, the criteria changes completely.  A female must employ certain techniques to carefully select the “one” who can provide best for her and her offspring.  Now lets try to think, what can possibly be a better predictor for future income than education?  Of course, selecting the heir of some old money, or dating a mobster may do as well, only the former are rare, and the latter involve certain life style issues…  But in all honesty, education is a pretty good indicator of a person’s income or potential of income.

Researches on this topic are numerous, and most agree on the conclusions.  Here’s an excerpt from an example paper: “Buss (1987, 1994) developed a number of evolutionary hypotheses concerning sex differences in mate selection criteria in humans. Since the number of offspring a Homo sapiens female can produce is limited, evolution would favor those who are able to secure sufficient resources for upbringing her offspring. Therefore, part of the female reproductive strategy is to secure mates that are able and willing to provide necessary resources. Hence, Buss (1987) concludes, female mate choice criteria should include signs indicating control or potential control over necessary resources, and related personality traits – ambition, dominance, diligence.”  More.

So if you are a teenager with a social acceptance problem but excellent grades, if you feel lonely or unwanted, rest assured that your investment is well placed.  In the long run, your patience will pay off.  Your higher than average income, may be accompanied with a good choice of partner…