In hierarchical primate groups affinity and friendship is an important part of success in the group. Old models of natural selection ignored factors like friendship and altruism. It seemed counterintuitive that an organism would devote its resources to helping a potential competitor. More recent models take these widely observed friendship behaviors into account. Many models explain these behaviors by calling on shared genetics or reciprocal altruism, where friends increase the chance of passing on their genes by helping each other. With either of these causative factors, success will be increased by selecting a healthy, reproductively successful friends to receive the altruistic behaviors. Reproductive success often mirrors power in a primate group, and also indicates a greater ability to pass on genetic material.
Thoughts of this nature caused me to hypothesize that the smell of copulins on a male might increase the odds of acceptance and success in hierarchical business settings. To test this I tried experiments in two large (20+) group meetings of executives and high-ranking individuals in a Fortune 500 company.
Day one
3 drops a314 mutant
1 spray tuth
1 dab copulins
Cover with Green Irish Tweed
These are some of the old “industrial strength” copulins no longer available. They are approximately equal in strength to the first “beta” version of EOW, which was very strong. I put 1 drop of these copulins in 30 ml alcohol, and then wet the tip of my finger with that solution and dabbed it on my chest. The smell was pretty strong and at first I thought I made a terrible mistake. They dried down fairly quickly though, but I could still distinctly smell them even through the cover, because I knew the sensation I was searching for. For a casual observer, the smell was well covered and not consciously perceptible.
The anone was added to provide an indication of vigor and reproductive competitiveness.
A314 with its rone component tempers the mix, and adds the competent, paterfamilias signature.
For my underarms I rubbed them with one of the clear crystals sold as antiperspirants. Those work, but not too well. This was to become evident to me later in the day when I could begin to pick up the smell from my underarms.
I was well received in the meeting, despite my self-perception of stinkiness from my underarms. I took a place at the table and my comments were generally well received. One woman at the other end of the table became defensive at one point, but I explained my point and her defensiveness died down. The next day she came up to me and told me she though I had made a lot of good points.
The interaction with the women in the room tended to be good but a bit fiery. Men all responded positively with a feeling of chumminess. During a break as I was getting up to leave one of the leaders in the hierarchy made a small noise indicating he might want to talk. I could easily have missed it. I turned to look at him and he engaged me with some questions, later offering some valuable advice. His tone and manner was gentle and friendly, which is not always the norm in such meetings.
Day 2
3 drops a314 mutant
2 sprays mx307 (none based)
1 dab copulins
Cover with Green Irish Tweed and a dab of Pheros
This day I used a roll-on antiperspirant. No underarm smell was noticeable on day 2.
This was a larger group than the day before, containing additional higher ranking individuals. This time I was sitting with a group of presenters away from the main table. During the presentations my contributions of even minor and insignificant elements were called out and identified as my ideas. This was not done for most of the others with me. My presentation went well. A female executive I’d come into conflict with in the past publicly praised me. Interestingly she used the distinctive words she had used to critique me in the past, and noted that I was leading people past that kind of behavior. A 180 degree reversal for her. One of my male peers widely acknowledged as an expert in our endeavor, sat next to me and engaged me in conversation, also mentioning me and our conversations during his own presentation.
The success of these 2 days of experimentation are in accord with my original hypothesis concerning the smell of copulins on a male and its influence on social organization.
