Demography, Genetics, Fertility, Reproduction

• "Rat Utopia" / "Behavior Sink" Experiments by John Calhoun
  • An experiment (one of many) where 8 rats (4 of each sex) were put into a utopian enclosure with unlimited food & water, safety from predators, comfortable temperature and air moisture, and was cleaned near-weekly. They reproduced repeatedly, until the population increased to a tipping point around 2200 rats. At which point they became neurotic, developed bizarre sexual practices, became lazy & depressed, and refused to breed. The population declined to total self-extinction (did not recover, no survivors).
  • The experiment was performed multiple times, always with the same results: Social breakdown, homosexuality, mothers indifferent to their children, men uninterested in sex, violence, some cases of cannibalism, Extinction.
  • The experiment has been repeated multiple times, including on mice.

    At the peak population, most mice spent every living second in the company of hundreds of other mice. They gathered in the main squares, waiting to be fed and occasionally attacking each other. Few females carried pregnancies to term, and the ones that did seemed to simply forget about their babies. They'd move half their litter away from danger and forget the rest. Sometimes they'd drop and abandon a baby while they were carrying it. The few secluded spaces housed a population Calhoun called, "the beautiful ones." Generally guarded by one male, the females—and few males—inside the space didn't breed or fight or do anything but eat and groom and sleep. When the population started declining the beautiful ones were spared from violence and death, but had completely lost touch with social behaviors, including having sex or caring for their young.

    After day 600, the social breakdown continued and the population declined toward extinction. During this period females ceased to reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting and only engaging in tasks that were essential to their health. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They were dubbed “the beautiful ones.” Breeding never resumed and behavior patterns were permanently changed.

  • Even when the human experimenter attempts to save the society, failure:
    • Experimenter took sexually active females from outside of the experiment and added them into the dying "utopia". The males were uninterested / did not attempt to engage in sex.
    • Experimenter took sexually active males from outside of the experiment and added them into the dying "utopia". The females are aggressive and refuse to have sex.
    • Experimenter took asexual ones from the dying "utopia", and put them into a new (still growing) utopia of opposite-sex sexually-active ones. Still zero interest in attempting sex.
  • The conclusion is that "max population" / is determined by psychological factors, not physical ones. That "enough space for society to function" is significantly larger than "enough space to live".
  • REBUTTAL that claims this study was a fraud: YouTube: "The Great Mouse Mutant Meltdown FRAUD"
• Genetics strongly influences personality

  • Behavior is significantly determined by genetics - Demestication of the Silver Fox: Long-term (>26 years) Siberian laboratory experiment where only the tamest foxes were allowed to breed. Within 4 generations tale-wagging was observed. Within 6 generations some foxes were "eager to establish human contact, whimpering to attract attention and sniffing and licking experimenters like dogs. They start displaying this kind of behavior before they are one month old". Within 20 generations 35% of the foxes were as previously-described. Within 30 generations 75±5% were as described. After 28 to 30 generations the tame foxes brains contained higher levels of serotonin. The first physiological change detected in the tame foxes was a lower adrenaline level. Other hormones also changed. "there was no evidence of inbreeding".

    After over 40 generations of breeding, they had produced "a group of friendly, domesticated foxes who 'displayed behavioral, physiological, and anatomical characteristics that were not found in the wild population, or were found in wild foxes but with much lower frequency….Many of the domesticated foxes had floppy ears, short or curly tails, extended reproductive seasons, changes in fur coloration, and changes in the shape of their skulls, jaws, and teeth. They also lost their 'musky fox smell'."

    After 40 years of the experiment, and the breeding of 45,000 foxes, a group of animals had emerged that were as tame and as eager to please as a dog. "The aggressive behavior of our herd's wild progenitors [has] entirely disappear[ed]". "there was a difference of 40 gene expressions between the domesticated and non-domesticated foxes."

    They also did the inverse, succesfully breeding the most anti-social foxes.

    All of this proves that genetics strongly determiens behaviour.

  • "There is now a large body of evidence that supports the conclusion that individual differences in most, if not all, reliably measured psychological traits, normal and abnormal, are substantively influenced by genetic factors." - Study: Bouchard Jr, Thomas. (2004). Genetic Influence on Human Psychological TraitsA Survey. Current Directions in Psychological Science - CURR DIRECTIONS PSYCHOL SCI. 13. 148-151. 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00295.x.
  • "there is now strong evidence that virtually all individual psychological differences, when reliably measured, are moderately to substantially heritable." - Bouchard, Thomas J Jr, and Matt McGue. “Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences.” Journal of neurobiology vol. 54,1 (2003): 4-45. doi:10.1002/neu.10160 (full study in PDF version)
  • Ancestral blood knowledge such as how newborn sea turtles know to rush towards the water, AKA instinct.
• Runaway Selection/Evolution:
  • 
• IQ: Intelligence Quotient
• Eugenics:
  • Classical:
    • Positive: Increase the prevalance of preferred genes / births among those with preferred genes
    • Negative: Decrease the prevalance of deleterious/undesired genes / births among those with undesired genes
      • One could argue that both prison & capital punishment are forms negative-eugenics.
    • Cultural norms (school curricula, media naratives), taxation rules (e.g. exemptions by child), sterilization (forced / voluntary)
  • Modern biotech eugenics:
    • Embryo selection (pick among natural variation)
    • Genetic editing/synthesis (create new varation)
• Dysgenics: The opposite of Eugenics
• Devolution
• Founder effect: The loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. Exemplified simply, when a population-group sends a few members to journey out to an isolated area (e.g. forming a colony), their offspring become genetically like the founders of the colony, and over time become more and more divergent from the original group.
• This was different from, say, China, where generations of able scholar officials selected by a merit-based imperial examination system married into the empoeror's household and had multiple wives or concubines. "When they retire they go to Suzhou ... and have upteen wives. So a large progeny. So the genes pass down ... This is not by accident" - Lee Quan Yew, Founding Father of Singapore, in his book "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going" (page 189)
• Human cloning
• Designer baby
  • The "He Jiankui" affair: Chinese scientist that genetically modified human embryos (disabling CCR5). The embryos resulted in purportedly healthy twins, and said scientist was improsioned. The stated goal was that it was an attempt to increase their resistance to HIV (which one of their parents had). That said, there is also research that this modification would significantly increase their cognition.
    https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/02/21/137309/the-crispr-twins-had-their-brains-altered/
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5213777/
• Gene doping (genetic engineering) There are multiple different methods: CRISPR/Cas9, ZFN, TALEN, etc.
  • DIY Human CRISPR Guide by PhD Josiah Zayner
    • Myostatic AKA Growth Differentiation Factor 8 (abbreviated GDF8) : Limits muscles growth
      • Myostatin gene knockout products:
        (however, the gene is most influential when muscles are being developed early in life, so using this on adults may not provide the desired results, but would instead need to be used when one is younger)
        1. The ODIN's Human Myostatin Knock-Out Targeting CRISPR-Cas9 Plasmid
        2. ORIGENE's Myostatin Propeptide (MSTN) Human Gene Knockout Kit (CRISPR)
        3. amsbio's Myostatin Propeptide (MSTN) Human Gene Knockout Kit (CRISPR)
  • Follistatin: An antagonist to myostatin.

Fertility & Reproduction

• TFR (Total Fertility Rate): The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime (assuming she lives long enough).
  • A TFR of 2.1 is required to maintain the same population level/quantity over time. 1 for the mother + 1 for the father + 0.1 for unexpected deaths.
  • A TFR <2.1 is called Sub-replacement fertility.
  • A TFR <1.5 is believed to suffer from the Low-TFR / Low-Fertility Trap Hypothesis.
• Fertility factor: Things that are correlated, either positively or negativly, with the quantity of children that an individual is likely to have.
  • Positive fertility factors:
    • the intention to have children
    • religiosity
    • marriage
    • maternal & social support
    • rural residence
    • low IQ
    • pro-family government programs
    • increased food production
    • (in high-income countries) quantity of children that one's parents had
  • Negative fertility factors:
    • rising income
      • Fertility-development controversy: As a geographic region develops, its fertility declines
    • education
    • female labor participation
    • obesity
    • high IQ
    • age
    • pollution
    • very low level of gender equality
      (debated: Look at Japan, Europe, & Singapore, compared to Sub Saharan Africa, the Middle East, & Central Asia AKA the "Stans". Look at Japan's TFR nosedive after female suffrage)
• List of countries & territories by fertility rate (This excludes immigration)
  • Nagi, Japan - 2.68 TFR (2021) over twice as high as Japan's average TFR (1.3). Nearly half of households have 3+ children.
    • Inexpensive rental properties, like 3-bredroom home rentals for monthly ¥50,000 (USD$360)
    • Birth gifts to parents from the municipality ranging from ¥100,000 - 400,000 (USD$725-2,900)
    • Free medical care to children (>18yo)
    • Nearly-free day-care (hourly ¥300 / USD$2.15)
    • High-schooler bus-transportation to schools outside of the municpiality is subsidized
    • School meals are subsidised
    • Free school textbooks until 15yo
  • Similarly: List of countries by population growth rate (but this also includes immigration/emigration, not just births)
• Human population planning
  • ProNatalism / pro-reproduction
    • Many developed countries are attempting to increase their birth rates, though most are unsuccessful. The only developed country with at least replacement-level birth-rate is Israel.
    • German Marriage Loans: Special loans to newlywed couples of adequate genetic fitness. For each child from the marriage, 25% of the loan would be forgiven, up to the entire loan. Initially required that the wife stop working (to focus on raising children), and that the husband continue to work. Because the wife would leave the workforce, the supply of labour decreased, resulting in more job opportunities for men, resulting in Germany achieving full employment.
    • Israel:
      • TFR: 3.0
      • The only developed country with a super/above-replacement level birth rate
      • Free IVF for first 2 children. Subsidized childcare.
      • An outlier in that is arguably an aspiring mono-religious ethno-state (see their imigration policy)
    • Germany:
      • In 1935, reversed the practically 50-year-long declining birth-rate; Increasing it from 1.77 to 2.24. Upon the tides of WW2 turning against them, it began to decline again.
      • Since 2000 it has been increasing, from 1.3 to 1.6 in 2020. But much of this is due to ethnic replacement, bringing in non-Germans whom then have comparitively large numbers of children. ~40% of children born in Germany are non-German.
  • AntiNatalism / anti-reproduction
• Multiple birth (e.g. twins, triplets, etc) AKA multibirth:
  • Pros: obvious.
  • Risks (compared to singletons):
    • Estimated that, in 2008, in the US, of all twins, 75% were born via cesarean section; (for singletons, cesarean section births, compared to traditional vaginal births, slightly increases the risks of poor health of both the mother and the child, including worse health outcomes later in life for the child).
    • Because of more children in the womb, thus the mother must consume a proportionally larger quantity of calories; Else incomplete and/or unequal nutrient delivery to the children. Which likely results in:
      • Increased chance of stillbirth (¿how much?).
      • Increased risk of cerebral palsy (singleton 0.23%; twins 1.3%; 4.5% triplets), likely due to premature birth and low birth weight.
    • Conjoined twins: Twins that are physically combined. For those that are not medically separated, what are the legal implications if one were to commit a crime? In the West, perhaps one could be fined but not incarcerated ("That it is better 100 guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer is a maxim that has been long and generally approved" - Benjamin Franklin 1785 referring to Blackstone's ratio).
• Reproductive related tourism:
  • Fertility tourism. The main procedures sought:
    • in vitro fertilization (IVF)
    • artificial insemination by a donor
    • surrogacy
  • Birth tourism: The practice of traveling to another country for the purpose of giving birth in that country. Motivations may include:
    • to obtain citizenship for the child in a country with birthright citizenship
    • to help their parents obtain permanent residency in the country
    • to circumvent their home country's offspring quantity limit (e.g. previously in China, Singapore, Vietnam, Iran, etc)
    See also: Multiple citizenship
• Both males and females rate as more attractive the faces of females with higher reproductive health - Smith, M J Law et al. “Facial appearance is a cue to oestrogen levels in women.” Proceedings. Biological sciences vol. 273,1583 (2006): 135-40. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3296
• The most common birth month (at least in the US) is September, meaning the most common conception month is December, which coincides with the end of No Nut November.

Assisted reproductive technology

• Assisted reproductive technology
• Gestational surrogacy
  • Surrogacy laws by country
• See also Spontaneous conception: Use of assisted reproductive technology to conceive and birth a child, causes natural (non-ART) births to become easier.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF)

3-Parent Child

• 3-Parent Child & Mitochondrial donation treatment: Having 3 genetic parents (1 father & 2 partial mothers) is possible, standard practice in bovine breeding (method "pronuclear transfer"), and has been performed in humans (method "oocyte spindle transfer").
  This includes
  • 1 "primary"/"nucleal"/"nuclear" partial-mother, whom provides the nucleus and thus provides the nuclear genome which is >99.9% of the maternal-genetic-donation (meaning >99.9% of what a normal mother would genetically gift to the child)
  • and 1 "secondary"/"mitochondrial" partial-mother, whom provides the mitochondria and thus provides the mitochondrial genome which includes <0.01% of the maternal-genetic-donation (meaning <0.01% of what a normal mother would genetically gift to the child)

  Though there are multiple methods ("pronuclear transfer", "oocyte spindle transfer", etc.), the typical method is "pronuclear transfer", which adds a few additional steps to the IVF process. The additional steps include, in addition to some of the husband's sperm fertalizing eggs from the primary partial-mother, some of the husband's sperm are used also to fertilize eggs from the secondary partial-mother.

  Then, from each, the cells' nucleuses are extracted from the cells; The cells retain their mitocondia. The primary-partial-mother's nucleus is inserted into the secondary-partial-mother's cell (now the only nucleus within it). This hybrid cell still has the mitocondia of the secondary-partial-mother.
  Both the primary-partial-mother's now nucleaus-less cell, and the secondary-partial-mother's nucleus are discarded.

  This hybrid cell is now implanted into whichever woman is to carry the pregnancy.

  The maternal-genetic-donation (what a normal mother would genetically gift to the child) comes >99.9% from the nucleus, and <0.01% from the mitochondria, this causes two partial-mothers.

  The other method, "oocyte spindle transfer", is the same except that the nucleaus is transfered to form the hybrid-cell and then only said hyubrid is fertilized. For ethical and religious reasons this may be preferrable due to only 1 fertilization occuring, and thus no fertilized eggs are intentionaly discarded.

Genetics

• IQ: Intelligence Quotient
• Fixation Index: Standard way to measure genetic differentiation between populations. A higher FST value means more genetic difference.
  • FST between two gorilla species, Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei: 0.04
  • FST between humans and Neanderthals: 0.08
  • FST between common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan paniscus): 0.103
  • FST between humans and Homo Erectus: 0.17
  • References:
    • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018442X04700335
    • http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/8/1359.full
    • http://www.genetics.org/content/105/3/767.abstract
    • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2730349/
    • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2675054/
• There are more ethnic Mongolians within China's autonomous region "Inner Mongolia" than there are total humans within Mongolia.
• shared DNA percentage
  • humans and bananas: 60%
  • humans and chickens: 60%
  • humans and chimps: 96%