[dilligras]

One might contend also that the influences on exactly which traits are ultimately passed on may have a socialogical aspect in the case of humans and other social animals.

Some of the things that females find attractive are entirely arbitrarily selected, due to the kind of peer pressure that sets trends, and determines in large part what they deem valuable.

For example, one could take the obvious example of nerds. Many are of above average intelligence, an attribute that would intuitlvely be valuable to the species and a highly desireable trait for ones offspring. And yet these folks are often ridiculed and demeaned by more average folks, who decide as a collective that Rock Hudson looks are emminently more important, even if behind those looks is a Mongo intellect.

As Arthur C. Clarke once observed, "It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."