[extropy-chat] Way, way, way over the edge...

[Jef Allbright]

Anna:
In cegep, the best explanation I ever received from one of my teachers;
"Homosexuality is just as important as heterosexuality as is regulates
the amount of people reproducing on the planet. If too many women
and men copulate too quickly it may endanger society, therefore, humans
are born differently to unsure the safety of our survival."
I'm not sure of the statistics behind it but it made a huge amount of
sense to me.

Like I said, statisticaly i'm not sure,  it just seemed plausible to me.
If i'm wrong then so be it, I would love to see statistics to proove
me wrong, then at least,  I could analize it and think of it differently.

Jef:
There are many ways to approach this question.  It seems to me that a very
thorough way would be first to learn basic evolutionary theory and
understand how (at the level of the organism) it is blind to such ideals as
"the right number of people on the planet."  You could then think about how
some adaptations, such as sexual behavior, may have "side-effect" behaviors
that may or may not play an evolutionary role. You could then learn about
so-called "group selection" that accounts for altruism, but always tending
to increase the fitness and survival of certain traits, rather than to
regulate them down to some level.  You could move on to ecological scenarios
and find some examples of symbiosis and local equilibrium, but again due to
constraints on growth rather eliminating the drive or capability to grow.
As we proceed next to the level of conscious choice and culture then a case
might be made for using homosexuality in such a way to regulate population,
but we have many other methods available as well, so still no essential role
for a behavior that can be seen as a side-effect of an essential process of
sexual reproduction.

You might also consider that famine, disease, and war have played a much
more "important" role in constraining population growth than homosexuality
ever has.

You might also consider the possible motivations within a given social
context, for someone to want to try to justify homosexual behavior on
evolutionary grounds.

Note that none of this says anything about how we should value homosexual
behavior, and rather than try to justify its value on evolutionary grounds,
quite strong arguments can be made in terms of our shared appreciation of
values of liberty, diversity, freedom of expresson, and so on.

- Jef
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