Re XII ‘there is a groupie for every male endeavour’
THIS IS SO MONEY. It is one of the great triumphs of modern
capitalism: let a thousand status hierarchies bloom! Unlike in hunter
gatherer days, there isn’t one status hierarchy to climb and that’s
that, there are endless hierarchies to climb, endless things to
specialise in. Roissy’s good buddy, the economist Tyler Cowen, has been
pushing this idea for a while now, and the effect this has on human
happiness and potential is mind-boggling. Guys can rise to the top of
whatever work/hobby hierarchies there are, or at least portray to women
that yes, he is in THE PROCESS of climbing to the top. There are
obvious caveats: females aren’t impressed by computer game related
status, even
though leading 30 guys from around the globe in World of Warcraft to
quickly and efficiently take down an enemy is actually an impressive
accomplishment – I think this will change in the future. But for
now, I’ll bet the college ultimate frisbee champ gets some pretty good
action.
Here is Sebastian’s blog.
for now, I’ll bet the college ultimate frisbee champ gets some pretty good action
This type of thinking reminds me of The Tao of Steve, which is not only quite funny, and not only a great date movie (imho), but it tells a story through a reletively unheard of philosophy that is basicaly correct.
One of the best “unseen” (I mean that more or less literally, not in an economic sense “the seen and the unseen”) movies of all time.
The young Koreans who play the highly popular Blizzard title “Starcraft”, which has a quite developed e-sport scene, have lots and lots of female fans who take their video-gaming quite seriously. I doubt they have any problems with the ladies, and their top players make fair salaries (100K for the top tier, up to 600K for the best).
The United States has too much of a machiso culture (not meant to be critical) for a gaming scene like that of the nascent Asian market. As gaming becomes more interactive and coupled with more apparent physical talents, I don’t doubt we’ll see much of the same thing here though.
And I do quote Napoleon Dynamite on this issue: “Women like men with skills.”
Good thoughts from Sebastian Flyte. (For those wondering, Lord Sebastian Flyte” is a character from Brideshead Revisited.)
johnlemmk — I suspect this is a comment pulled from the Roissy blog, to which TC has previously declined to link.
“So, Tyler, how are those hot little ethnic food groupies treatin’ ya?”
He has blog groupies.
This idea sounds like something libertarian think tanks would cook up to please their wealthy backers. It justifies ignoring social injustice and gives intellectual cover to those who oppose badly needed measures to correct excessive inequality of wealth and income.
Men can make up all the social hierarchies they want, but women decide which ones count: the Forbes 400 — Yes. The World of Warcraft Order of the Whatevers — No.
Flyte, Roissy, et al, are inverting the meaning of the biological terms ‘alpha male’ and ‘beta male’. Among primates, the ‘alpha’ males are the older, more powerful ones with 1 or more long-term mates, while the ‘beta’ males are the socially marginal ones who get short-term flings when the alpha isn’t looking.
When used in reference to humans, the definitions normally are as follows:
Alpha = many women
Beta = one woman
Omega (or low Beta) = no women.
The frisbee champ is too shy, women scare him. Doesn’t know what to do with it…
I agree with a modified version of what Steve says.
There are status heirarchies among the status hierarchies. Tyler’s OP seems to be pushing fake, rosy, egalitarian descriptions of the state of reality.
I have an important point to make, but it’s hard to concentrate with one blog-commenter groupie sitting in my lap and another nuzzling my ear…
> I’ll bet the college ultimate frisbee champ gets some pretty good action.
Well, as a man working his way up the (club) ultimate frisbee circuit, and one who met his fiancee playing ultimate, I can confirm that this is certainly true. Every decent-sized school with a men’s frisbee team has a women’s one as well…
Being the college ultimate frisbee champ of your school has its upsides… Though not always so great, if the male to female ratio is 7:3.
the quote cowen pulled and attempted, weakly and with great passive-aggressive betatude, to hide the source of, is from my post “the sixteen commandments of poon”:
http://roissy.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/the-sixteen-commandments-of-poon/
“XII. Maximize your strengths, minimize your weaknesses
In the betterment of ourselves as men we attract women into our orbit. To accomplish this gravitational pull as painlessly and efficiently as possible, you must identify your natural talents and shortcomings and parcel your efforts accordingly. If you are a gifted jokester, don’t waste time and energy trying to raise your status in philosophical debate. If you write well but dance poorly, don’t kill yourself trying to expand your manly influence on the dancefloor. Your goal should be to attract women effortlessly, so play to your strengths no matter what they are; there is a groupie for every male endeavor. Except World of Warcraft.”
obviously, there are some endeavors, like video gaming, that are utterly repulsive to women and won’t do a man a lick of good to master. but for the most part, there are enough niches that a good number of men can exploit that will increase his lay ratio by a non-trivial amount.
game, btw, is not about successfully playing a classic beta strategy. it is about systematizing and mimicking alpha male behavior to hit those attraction buttons in women that natural alphas do unthinkingly. and, yes, game also serves to help men handle other males (AMOGs in the parlance of the PUA community: alpha male other guy).
a good advice
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