this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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This seems like a strange argument, because "the primate social adaptation system" is also ultimately governed by evolution. Obviously a primate group with a social tendency towards incest would have worse survival rates than a primate group with a social aversion to incest, and that social fabric definitely is tied to evolution (unless you mean to imply that our social fabric did not arise from evolution, but I don't think that's what you're saying).
Also, I don't see how this can have anything in particular to do with primates and their social constructs as incest is avoided by all animals, as far as I am aware. It is not a purely human or primate thing, incest is bad for all animals and so they have all evolved via evolution to avoid it. I'd say the Westermarck effect is just the result of that evolution - obviously humans can't directly read genetic code, so the mind assumes that whoever you grew up with must be your close relatives, and that's good enough of a signal in 99% of cases, so that's what evolution went with.
I'm sorry but I find this premise completely ridiculous - obviously we don't like how they taste because they are bad for us. Evolution isn't only about preference, it's also about avoiding stuff, like poison or rotten food or woodchips or whatever. I don't think we can come to an agreement on such a premise.
Again, I just think this is completely wrong. Evolution definitely does not only code us to go towards things we want, it also codes us to avoid harmful things. Evolution optimizes on all fronts at once.
Evolution is a concept so obviously it doesn't have forethought, but it doesn't need that forethought to still evolve in a given direction. Natural selection drives evolution to whatever is preferable - if that includes an aversion to incest, then natural selection will select for that trait, given enough time.
What evidence or arguments do you have for this? Aside from what you've presented already, as that has not been convincing. My explanation seems consistent and simpler and occams razor would prefer it.