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<p>Dear Christophe,<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
For more details, please see "On the evolution of symbols and
prediction models", <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09528-9__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!X0UPW5W1m15CIzAVuH6Vr2hHuvgNIaWUBWu2GwmvOKFAVYDfgEkW-F202WbVoxKGd1e-HxoRZ8EdQKQ-gJBtZT4qSJw$">https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09528-9</a> <br>
<br>
Rainer</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 19.02.2026 um 12:53 schrieb
Christophe Menant:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
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<span class="elementToProof">Dear Rainer,</span></div>
<div
style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof">
<span class="elementToProof">Thanks for your support. Our
evolutionary frameworks look indeed close.</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">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?</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">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).</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">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. </span></div>
<div
style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
class="elementToProof">
<br>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"
style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>De :</b> Rainer
Feistel (IOW) <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de"><rainer.feistel@iow.de></a><br>
<b>Envoyé :</b> mercredi 18 février 2026 18:24<br>
<b>À :</b> Christophe Menant
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr"><christophe.menant@hotmail.fr></a><br>
<b>Cc :</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es"><fis@listas.unizar.es></a>;
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com">pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com"><pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com></a><br>
<b>Objet :</b> [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour.
Anxiety management</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<p>Dear Christophe,<br>
<br>
Thank you for your support and additional suggestions.<br>
It seems to me that your description is perfectly consistent
with my scenario, and a possible fruitful extension.<br>
<br>
In my fictitious narrative, the transition to bipedal gait
lowered the reproduction rate to a subcritical level.<br>
Only a series of severe transitions in sexual behaviour could
keep hominins away from the brink of extinction.<br>
Among those have likely been the concealed oestrus of females
and the resulting permanent sexual interest of males.<br>
The consecutive instabilities and innovations in this chain
ended with the grandmother effect that ensured survival<br>
in a final stable sexual regime. This is actually the end of
my narrative.<br>
<br>
This process had established frequent mating activities in
excess of just a few required for siring offspring.<br>
As you say "it was possible for our ancestors to extend sexual
pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of
reproduction concerns".<br>
Sexual interaction, consequently, became a relevant part of
the social life of hominins, to serve for emotional<br>
comfort, individual bindings, friendship and mutual assistance
in feeding or personal hygiene, etc.<br>
Your list of sex-based relations and behaviours fits very well
to this.<br>
<br>
Thank you for your contribution,<br>
Rainer<br>
<br>
<br>
Betreff: [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour.
Anxiety management<br>
Datum: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:25:37 +0000<br>
Von: Christophe Menant <a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr"
moz-do-not-send="true">
<christophe.menant@hotmail.fr></a><br>
An: <a
class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de" moz-do-not-send="true">rainer.feistel@iow.de</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de" moz-do-not-send="true"><rainer.feistel@iow.de></a><br>
Kopie (CC): <a
class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" moz-do-not-send="true">fis@listas.unizar.es</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" moz-do-not-send="true"><fis@listas.unizar.es></a>,
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true"><pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com></a><br>
<br>
<br>
Dear Rainer,<br>
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.<br>
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 (<a class="x_moz-txt-link-freetext moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!X0UPW5W1m15CIzAVuH6Vr2hHuvgNIaWUBWu2GwmvOKFAVYDfgEkW-F202WbVoxKGd1e-HxoRZ8EdQKQ-gJBt5luLGWk$" originalsrc="https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf" moz-do-not-send="true">https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf</a>).
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.<br>
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.<br>
For instance, here are some human sexual specificities the
implementation of which could illustrate the search for more
pleasure by our pre-human ancestors:<br>
- No mating season, sexual pleasure possible at any time.
Permanent breast as signal.<br>
- Sexual behaviors embedded in symbolic, emotional, and
cultural systems. More emotional sharing by face mating.<br>
- Sexual pleasure layered with self-consciousness, fantasy,
attachment, anxiety, and meaning.<br>
- Sexual pleasure more intense as psychologically deeper, more
elaborated and more cognitively amplified.<br>
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.<br>
Thanks again Rainer for having introduced it.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</p>
<div class="x_moz-cite-prefix">Am 18.02.2026 um 14:25 schrieb
Christophe Menant:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
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style="margin:0cm; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<span class="x_elementToProof">Dear Rainer,</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">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.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">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 (</span><span
class="x_elementToProof" style="color:blue"><u><a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="2" originalsrc="https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Protégé par Outlook : https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf. Cliquez ou appuyez pour suivre le lien." class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_moz-txt-link-freetext moz-txt-link-freetext" id="OWA4549a4e5-43fc-cf0f-9d30-7ad6665feba3" target="_blank" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!X0UPW5W1m15CIzAVuH6Vr2hHuvgNIaWUBWu2GwmvOKFAVYDfgEkW-F202WbVoxKGd1e-HxoRZ8EdQKQ-gJBt5luLGWk$" style="color:blue; margin:0px" moz-do-not-send="true">https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf</a></u></span><span
class="x_elementToProof">). 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.</span></div>
<div class="x_elementToProof"
style="margin:0cm; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<span class="x_elementToProof">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.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">For instance, here are some
human sexual specificities the implementation of which
could illustrate the search for more pleasure by our
pre-human ancestors:</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- No mating season, sexual
pleasure possible at any time. Permanent breast as signal.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual behaviors embedded
in symbolic, emotional, and cultural systems. More
emotional sharing by face mating.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual pleasure layered
with self-consciousness, fantasy, attachment, anxiety, and
meaning.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual pleasure more
intense as psychologically deeper, more elaborated and
more cognitively amplified.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">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.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">Thanks again Rainer for
having introduced it.</span></div>
<div class="x_elementToProof"
style="margin:0px; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof"
style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="x_elementToProof"
style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<pre class="x_moz-signature" cols="72">--
Note: New Email Address: <a
class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de" moz-do-not-send="true">rainer.feistel@iow.de</a>
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</pre>
</div>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Note: New Email Address: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de">rainer.feistel@iow.de</a>
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</pre>
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