[Fis] TR: Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management... and more

Thu Feb 26 10:11:43 CET 2026

Dear Eric,
The focus on anxiety comes from its intertwining with self-consciousness during our pre-human evolution.
The evolution of primate intersubjectivity toward pre-human identifications with conspecifics brought in identifications with suffering/endangered/dying conspecifics. This has been the source of a huge pre-human anxiety that our ancestors have limited by developing anxiety limitation processes with feedback. Such an overall process has created an evolutionary engine leading to our human self-consciousness (see drawings).
Evolutions of emotions are to be taken into account also, but anxiety management has been at the core of our still active evolutionary engine.
Christophe

________________________________
De : OARF <eric.werner at oarf.org>
Envoyé : jeudi 26 février 2026 08:37
À : Christophe Menant <christophe.menant at hotmail.fr>
Cc : rainer.feistel at iow.de <rainer.feistel at iow.de>; fis at listas.unizar.es <fis at listas.unizar.es>; Pedro C. Marijuán <pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com>; Katherine Peil <ktpeil at outlook.com>
Objet : Re: [Fis] TR: Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management... and more

Dear Christoph,

Very interesting approach.  But why the focus on Anxiety alone? Why not include the evolution of the emotions generally. Perhaps Kate has something to say about this?

Eric
Sent from my iPad

On Feb 26, 2026, at 8:24 AM, Christophe Menant <christophe.menant at hotmail.fr> wrote:

Dear Rainer and FIS Colleagues,
Here is what could be an answer on the possible usage of evolutionary psychology (evopsy) for an understanding of the emergence of human sexual behavior:
Evopsy addresses only a limited part of our pre-human past. It applies only to Pleistocene which positions our oldest ancestor at homo-habilis time and does not really consider what happened before. It is clear that a lot of our pre-human evolution took place between our last common ancestor (7my ago) and homo-habilis (3.5 my ago).
So for me evopsy cannot bring much to understand the emergence of human sexual behavior (see https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENTNF-2.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Tn1qspc-yoF5LXq2p7yTJJP5EWF7wEPxlb2E-ipMSfxmkjH87Tl07YgOuhIl5tIFgIlhlg6jD5jL5vuCmc6tEJGqRQUexo4c$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENTNF-2.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!WEMNlUGG5dEuMPvROte84LjYNRQORj5VQ69yrAzH2kRPkNnUDYBq1p8ChKGQWq6ck8TEg-qU7XFn_jjEftCI9YfPiQwzWZDl$>)
Christophe

________________________________
De : Fis <fis-bounces at listas.unizar.es> de la part de Pedro C. Marijuán <pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com>
Envoyé : vendredi 20 février 2026 21:02
À : Rainer Feistel (IOW) <rainer.feistel at iow.de>; fis at listas.unizar.es <fis at listas.unizar.es>
Objet : Re: [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management... and more

Dear Rainer & FIS Colleagues,

The impact of sexual selection on human evolution can hardly be overestimated.
While the transformation of female body and the permanence of breasts, the other side was also experimenting concerted changes:
Aggressivity was diminishing (far less jaw, loss of protruding canines), less hair, less sexual dimorphism... self-domestication is a term often used.
More cooperation and larger social groups become possible. Language will multiply the effects and possibilities.
But in that larger social context, in order to maintain the strong bonds necessary for family survival, apart from more permanent sex, beauty and romantic love emerge.
It prolongs predispositions already present in most species, not only the advanced ones.
In the human case it is amazing how the "complex of love" will be handled around from the great arts to all kind of realms.
It is a "superglue" of our species, though other potent emotional solvents enter: jealousy, envy, humiliation, resentment, revenge...
The mess where we live.

Best --Pedro

El 19/02/2026 a las 15:55, Rainer Feistel (IOW) escribió:

Dear Christophe,

My approach to pre-human evolution is a very narrow but general one, namely, the specifically human evolution of symbols. As any other organism, thermodynamically, humans are metastable, active systems far from equilibrium. Minor internal or external effects may trigger macroscopic activities by releasing energy that had been accumulated internally.

To those small triggers belong neuronal signals which, as a result of mental processes, seem to play a much more important role in humans than in any other species. Any activities, including sexual ones, are started or stopped by decisions which release an associated trigger for, say, a well-structured cascade of muscle contractions or the like.

Such decisions are the result of alternative prediction models for the expected future impact of the perticular decision. Many such prediction models are genetically inherited and result from phylogenetic experience of all successful ancestors, other such models from the individual ontogenetic experience during the personal life, and finally, rather specific for humans, certain models result from cultural experience by symbolic communication with other humans by books, diaries, chats etc.

Prediction models associate weights to the alternative potential activities. Comparison of those weights results in a decision. From introspection we know that inherited weights include pain, anxiety, happiness or pleasure, as "qualia", and this may apply similarly to all higher animals.

To survive on the ground, hominins developed intense social cooperation, controlled by symbolic mutual communication and advanced mental information processing. The progress of such capabilities dominated hominin evolution, including the later development of science and technology with its sophisticated prediction models in the form of cooking recipes, mathematical theories or technical construction plans.

For more details, please see "On the evolution of symbols and prediction models", https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09528-9__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Tn1qspc-yoF5LXq2p7yTJJP5EWF7wEPxlb2E-ipMSfxmkjH87Tl07YgOuhIl5tIFgIlhlg6jD5jL5vuCmc6tEJGqRWTxkACw$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09528-9__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!XCKMy8AMH4OWQbt3KiZ729DnFzYLKKS9bR1SViJzrIO71adqIWFGavOGescE3tC3kRLVod8Uzup_tYVavz-WDjKX-iPS$>

Rainer

Am 19.02.2026 um 12:53 schrieb Christophe Menant:
Dear Rainer,
Thanks for your support. Our evolutionary frameworks look indeed close.
More precisely, how would you support the specific and important development of sexual pleasure by our pre-human ancestors to limit anxiety as a key part of our phylum evolution?
Anxiety limitation with its various feedback (see drawing) is for me part of an evolutionary engine that brought us from LCAncestor to today humans. That engine is still active. I feel that the better we understand its nature, the better we can address human possible future (ex: vs de-identification fueling some of our evil trends).
A lot remains to be done, and it is interesting (and a bit surprising) to note that philosophy of mind has had so far little interest for our pre-human evolution.

________________________________
De : Rainer Feistel (IOW) <rainer.feistel at iow.de><mailto:rainer.feistel at iow.de>
Envoyé : mercredi 18 février 2026 18:24
À : Christophe Menant <christophe.menant at hotmail.fr><mailto:christophe.menant at hotmail.fr>
Cc : fis at listas.unizar.es<mailto:fis at listas.unizar.es> <fis at listas.unizar.es><mailto:fis at listas.unizar.es>; pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com<mailto:pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com> <pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com><mailto:pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com>
Objet : [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management

Dear Christophe,

Thank you for your support and additional suggestions.
It seems to me that your description is perfectly consistent with my scenario, and a possible fruitful extension.

In my fictitious narrative, the transition to bipedal gait lowered the reproduction rate to a subcritical level.
Only a series of severe transitions in sexual behaviour could keep hominins away from the brink of extinction.
Among those have likely been the concealed oestrus of females and the resulting permanent sexual interest of males.
The consecutive instabilities and innovations in this chain ended with the grandmother effect that ensured survival
in a final stable sexual regime. This is actually the end of my narrative.

This process had established frequent mating activities in excess of just a few required for siring offspring.
As you say "it was possible for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns".
Sexual interaction, consequently, became a relevant part of the social life of hominins, to serve for emotional
comfort, individual bindings, friendship and mutual assistance in feeding or personal hygiene, etc.
Your list of sex-based relations and behaviours fits very well to this.

Thank you for your contribution,
Rainer

Betreff:     [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management
Datum:     Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:25:37 +0000
Von:     Christophe Menant <christophe.menant at hotmail.fr><mailto:christophe.menant at hotmail.fr>
An:     rainer.feistel at iow.de<mailto:rainer.feistel at iow.de> <rainer.feistel at iow.de><mailto:rainer.feistel at iow.de>
Kopie (CC):     fis at listas.unizar.es<mailto:fis at listas.unizar.es> <fis at listas.unizar.es><mailto:fis at listas.unizar.es>, pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com<mailto:pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com> <pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com><mailto:pedroc.marijuan at gmail.com>

Dear Rainer,
Your focus on the transition to bipedal gait as supporting pre-human sexual evolution is original and interesting. It highlights a complex subject that may be influencing our human behavior much more than assumed. Regarding this last perspective, let me propose a possible development of human sexuality based on sexual related pleasures that our pre-human ancestors may have been looking for in order to limit a specific pre-human anxiety.
You may know the hypothesis about evolution of our ancestors toward self-consciousness bringing them to face new anxieties coming from identifications with suffering conspecifics (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Tn1qspc-yoF5LXq2p7yTJJP5EWF7wEPxlb2E-ipMSfxmkjH87Tl07YgOuhIl5tIFgIlhlg6jD5jL5vuCmc6tEJGqRSsDMPp0$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!XCKMy8AMH4OWQbt3KiZ729DnFzYLKKS9bR1SViJzrIO71adqIWFGavOGescE3tC3kRLVod8Uzup_tYVavz-WDr-U32b3$>). To limit that mental suffering our ancestors may have been obliged to look for new anxiety limitation processes. Pleasure, as naturally limiting anxiety, could have been a candidate for various developments in that perspective. More precisely, it was possible for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns. Developing and amplifying sexual relations could have been an easy, and quite natural,  way for our ancestors to limit the anxiety increase they were facing.
What is proposed here is that our ancestors have capitalized on sexual pleasures to develop sources of anxiety limitation. This could have led pre-human sexuality to become highly ritualized and very different from chimpanzee’s sexual behaviours.
For instance, here are some human sexual specificities the implementation of which could illustrate the search for more pleasure by our pre-human ancestors:
- No mating season, sexual pleasure possible at any time. Permanent breast as signal.
- Sexual behaviors embedded in symbolic, emotional, and cultural systems. More emotional sharing by face mating.
- Sexual pleasure layered with self-consciousness, fantasy, attachment, anxiety, and meaning.
- Sexual pleasure more intense as psychologically deeper, more elaborated and more cognitively amplified.
The above hypothesis brings sexuality and anxiety limitation to be at the forefront of human motivations. This subject is not new but deserves being developed a bit more, I feel.
Thanks again Rainer for having introduced it.

Am 18.02.2026 um 14:25 schrieb Christophe Menant:
Dear Rainer,
Your focus on the transition to bipedal gait as supporting pre-human sexual evolution is original and interesting. It highlights a complex subject that may be influencing our human behavior much more than assumed. Regarding this last perspective, let me propose a possible development of human sexuality based on sexual related pleasures that our pre-human ancestors may have been looking for in order to limit a specific pre-human anxiety.
You may know the hypothesis about evolution of our ancestors toward self-consciousness bringing them to face new anxieties coming from identifications with suffering conspecifics (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!Tn1qspc-yoF5LXq2p7yTJJP5EWF7wEPxlb2E-ipMSfxmkjH87Tl07YgOuhIl5tIFgIlhlg6jD5jL5vuCmc6tEJGqRSsDMPp0$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!XCKMy8AMH4OWQbt3KiZ729DnFzYLKKS9bR1SViJzrIO71adqIWFGavOGescE3tC3kRLVod8Uzup_tYVavz-WDr-U32b3$>). To limit that mental suffering our ancestors may have been obliged to look for new anxiety limitation processes. Pleasure, as naturally limiting anxiety, could have been a candidate for various developments in that perspective. More precisely, it was possible for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns. Developing and amplifying sexual relations could have been an easy, and quite natural,  way for our ancestors to limit the anxiety increase they were facing.
What is proposed here is that our ancestors have capitalized on sexual pleasures to develop sources of anxiety limitation. This could have led pre-human sexuality to become highly ritualized and very different from chimpanzee’s sexual behaviours.
For instance, here are some human sexual specificities the implementation of which could illustrate the search for more pleasure by our pre-human ancestors:
- No mating season, sexual pleasure possible at any time. Permanent breast as signal.
- Sexual behaviors embedded in symbolic, emotional, and cultural systems. More emotional sharing by face mating.
- Sexual pleasure layered with self-consciousness, fantasy, attachment, anxiety, and meaning.
- Sexual pleasure more intense as psychologically deeper, more elaborated and more cognitively amplified.
The above hypothesis brings sexuality and anxiety limitation to be at the forefront of human motivations. This subject is not new but deserves being developed a bit more, I feel.
Thanks again Rainer for having introduced it.

--
Note: New Email Address: rainer.feistel at iow.de<mailto:rainer.feistel at iow.de>
Dr. rer. nat. habil. Rainer Feistel
Physicist (emeritus)
PS Gustav Hertz Prize, Berlin 1981
CITAC Best Paper Award, Paris 2011
IAPWS Honorary Fellow, London 2013
BIPM Metrologia Highlight Articles, Paris 2016
EGU Fridtjof Nansen Medal, Vienna 2018
LS Daniel Ernst Jablonski Medal, Berlin 2021
IAPWS Gibbs Award, Boulder, Co., 2024

--
Note: New Email Address: rainer.feistel at iow.de<mailto:rainer.feistel at iow.de>
Dr. rer. nat. habil. Rainer Feistel
Physicist (emeritus)
PS Gustav Hertz Prize, Berlin 1981
CITAC Best Paper Award, Paris 2011
IAPWS Honorary Fellow, London 2013
BIPM Metrologia Highlight Articles, Paris 2016
EGU Fridtjof Nansen Medal, Vienna 2018
LS Daniel Ernst Jablonski Medal, Berlin 2021
IAPWS Gibbs Award, Boulder, Co., 2024

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