In evolutionary biology, SEN refers to social and environmental designs that trigger an evolutionary response. These changes are seen as the foundation of what makes a home. Today, we often use the words house, housing, and home to mean the same thing: shelter.
We often mix up these terms without noticing what we lose in the process. Our current social and economic systems encourage this confusion, leading us to live in environments that are not truly natural. Housing is not the same as a home, but most people do not understand why, and we keep going without questioning it.
However, people who live in a SEN learn the real difference between a house and a home. This difference is about more than just having a comfortable place to return to.
A key feature of a SEN is that it defines a home by the closeness of 'family' members who are not related by blood.
This is a cultural adaptation in which people who are not related by blood live, sleep, work, and share meals together.
What appears to be random social reciprocity and sexual freedom for both men and women within a SEN group is structured learned behavior in which close contact and touching, without regard for social or economic status, create selective pressure to direct evolutionary change toward altruism.
However, building a SEN on purpose should not be confused with eugenics. Eugenics involves improving the genetic quality of humans through selective breeding or artificial selection, often by excluding people deemed inferior or favoring those deemed superior.
SEN niche construction is based on the idea of gene-culture coevolution. I will explain this in more detail later.
