If we are all innately programmed to fancy people to increase the chances of survival for our off spring why do we all fancy different people?

From an evolutionary standpoint, differences in taste promote genetic diversity. I like blondes with curly hair, someone else like brunettes with straight hair, it all keeps the gene pool from being homogenized.

Beside, variety is the spice of life..

It’s a good thing there is diversity in desirability. If everyone only mated with a few special “breeders” the species could end up like bees suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder. They get wiped out by a single disease or mutation.

Besides, I’m already taken. Our entire species would end if everyone was waiting for me to service them -especially since I can no longer reproduce.

@inunsure That’s made me really think, but I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a woman I found desireable and thought of my possible off spring. Maybe that’s why I don’t have a type I prefer. If her mind can keep mine engaged that’s good enough for me.

In order to diversify the gene pool, speaking from an evolutionary standpoint.
We also are more likely to fancy someone who seems familiar (hence the old adage: you marry your mother/father), and since we humans have very diverse personalities not everyone bonds with the same people. Then you factor in environment: how/where you were raised, what types of liberties or adventures did you have through childhood, etc. and this can inform predilection for choosing “dangerous” types or marrying someone you believe your parents won’t approve of.

Well, looks like I’d be a match for @zenvelo lol

So many factors play into attraction, including early childhood and adolescent sexual orientations, societal programming, individual personality and temperament, family of origin conditioning. Far too variable to nail down any one contribution.
I am much more attracted to personality, humor, intelligence and integrity beyond the physical. If you have those qualities first and foremost the physical attraction is secondary, unless you are morbidly obese and lack good hygiene.

You’re talking about only one species here. As @LuckyGuy has alluded, some species perform their reproduction differently, such as bees and ants with queens which do all of the colony’s reproduction, or bacteria, which can reproduce asexually, or worms which can reproduce as hermaphrodites.

Different strokes for different folks… and species.

In fact, I think you’re only looking at “some elements of one species”. It may be that some cultures prefer more homogeneity than we do in the West.

@Coloma I’ve had a crush on you for a while.

One other factor is that men will at times choose the nearest available mate regardless of looks. While finding the best choice to pass on the genes is important, it’s even more important to pass them off to somebody.

@Adirondackwannabe None of this is conscious thought, it’s all instinctual.

@zenvelo Awww…why I am flattered!
I do agree that in our younger years we often choose inappropriate partners due to our conditioning and hormonal insanity. I LOVE being in the mature zone these days, I really think once the insanity of biology calms down we are much better able to make discerning choices in our relationships. I think the “gap” between men and women narrows and we are much more likely to find true compatibility.

First off, I do not believe we are all just wind-up automatons executing a program hard-wired into us at the DNA level. We learn from childhood forward. We have brains capable of thinking about what we have learned, and modifying behavior that might otherwise have been innate, based on learning and thought. But even if that were not so, even if our DNA told us whom to fancy to maximize said DNA’s chances of survival; we do not all have the same DNA. So we still would not all chose the same sort of mate.

If all human males were focused on surviving through finding and mating with the perfect paragon of woman, and all of them agreed on what constituted said paragon of womanhood; that would virtually assure the destruction of the species within a single generation, not it’s survival. Even the simplest of lifeforms don’t all fancy the same sort of mate, and for obvious survival-driven reasons.