[wpietri]

I agree that mate competition was a force. Not a huge one, though; compare male elephant seals which are not 20% larger, but 200%. But I believe the person I'm replying to is focused on a broader notion of power than merely getting to pick who you can mate with. I think he's conflating status with power, which are related but distinct phenomena. And then he's blowing power up into The Only Thing That Matters, which is what I'm objecting to.

Also, I think the monogamy thing is kooky. Your model there implies that men will be deciding the whole who-mates-with-whom question, with women as property. That is how it works for elephant seals, but it's not the only way. Instead of trying to construct a mandatory monogamy, we could let women also participate in the decision-making process. Novel, I know, but we've been moving in that direction for a century or two and it seems like we're making progress.