Here is an example of what makes this a non-issue:
I consider Barbara Eden the most beautiful woman who has ever lived. For those of different generations or outside the United States or have been living under a rock, she is the US actress most famous for playing the lead character in the 1960s television show, I Dream of Jeannie.
Beauty is a subjective thing of course. In the same era, guys debated the merits of Ginger or Mary Ann concerning the two beauties of Gilligan's Island. The answer to that question is obviously, Mary Ann but I digress.
I was born in 1959; Barbara Eden in 1931. I am 59 at this posting, she is 87. She is my senior by 28 years. She is 8 years older than my mom. If I had the opportunity to embrace and smooch Barbara, I would be on cloud 9. But I honestly don't think the desire would go much beyond that - now or at any point in the past.
Evolution is a bitch regarding the individual. It's all about the success of the species as a whole. There are very powerful compulsions in place which steer the individual to do what benefits the species. As much as I worship the ground Barbara Eden walks on, I believe our difference in generations alone would intervene in making me unlikely to want to father a child by her. This is the woman I think of more as a goddess than a human being.
Imagine then, the compulsions against fathering a child by incest. It's just VERY unlikely. Unlike the fictional Luke and Leia who didn't know they were brother and sister, it is ridiculously unlikely that siblings would have any desire to couple. The evolutionary forces against it are huge. The occasional incidence of where it happens is not a big deal. There are unlikely to be genetic consequences in a single generation. Even if there are, the situation is self-correcting as offspring is then unlikely to pass on their genes.
As I said earlier, I have personally seen the multi-generational consequences of a small breeding population but incest just doesn't figure into it. The built-in evolutionary instincts alone prevent it from ever being an issue.
I consider Barbara Eden the most beautiful woman who has ever lived. For those of different generations or outside the United States or have been living under a rock, she is the US actress most famous for playing the lead character in the 1960s television show, I Dream of Jeannie.
Beauty is a subjective thing of course. In the same era, guys debated the merits of Ginger or Mary Ann concerning the two beauties of Gilligan's Island. The answer to that question is obviously, Mary Ann but I digress.
I was born in 1959; Barbara Eden in 1931. I am 59 at this posting, she is 87. She is my senior by 28 years. She is 8 years older than my mom. If I had the opportunity to embrace and smooch Barbara, I would be on cloud 9. But I honestly don't think the desire would go much beyond that - now or at any point in the past.
Evolution is a bitch regarding the individual. It's all about the success of the species as a whole. There are very powerful compulsions in place which steer the individual to do what benefits the species. As much as I worship the ground Barbara Eden walks on, I believe our difference in generations alone would intervene in making me unlikely to want to father a child by her. This is the woman I think of more as a goddess than a human being.
Imagine then, the compulsions against fathering a child by incest. It's just VERY unlikely. Unlike the fictional Luke and Leia who didn't know they were brother and sister, it is ridiculously unlikely that siblings would have any desire to couple. The evolutionary forces against it are huge. The occasional incidence of where it happens is not a big deal. There are unlikely to be genetic consequences in a single generation. Even if there are, the situation is self-correcting as offspring is then unlikely to pass on their genes.
As I said earlier, I have personally seen the multi-generational consequences of a small breeding population but incest just doesn't figure into it. The built-in evolutionary instincts alone prevent it from ever being an issue.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
