[extropy-chat] Effective relationships

[The Avantguardian]

--- Jef Allbright <jef at jefallbright.net> wrote:

> Robert Bradbury wrote: 
> 
> > One may ask under what conditions are survival
> probabilities enhanced by partnering?
> 
>  ago I posted what I thought was a provocative and
> insightful idea, but didn't get much feedback.  I'd
> like to try again here:
> 
> Might it be that the most effective relationship
> structure in terms of cost/benefit might be the
> triad? I'm not talking about polyamory or ménage à
> trois but rather a stable, committed triadic
> relationship between three individuals in any
> combination of genders. 
> 
> I recognize that this would require individuals of
> greater than average self-awareness to avoid
> destructive two-against-one dynamics. I also
> recognize that nature settled on binary
> relationships in most cases, but I think human
> culture represents a more highly developed phase
> that may support and reward more highly developed
> relationship structures at various scales.
> 
> The advantages I see are significantly increased
> synergies, built-in tie-breaking, and possibly an
> inherent 3D structural stability similar to that of
> a tetrahedron over a planar object. 
> 
> Comments?

I tend to like the idea in general. There has been a
lot of fuss lately over the concepts like "gay
marriage" and "family values" these days. Yet it is my
observation that the traditional American model of the
"nuclear family" of man, wife, and children is showing
signs of impracticality in the modern world.

These days child-rearing has become a nearly lost
art-form since typically both parents work and
children are essenstially brought up by television.
The phenomenon of "latch key" children that surfaced
in the eighties has, in the 21st century, become the
rule rather than the exception.

I do not feel this is not a healthy situation
physically, mentally, or socially for our children.
Developing children need realistic role models during
their formative years and TV, including "reality tv"
doesn't really fit the bill. 

I believe that a larger family unit of genetically
related or unrelated breeding age adults should be the
typical model. There is no reason why any combination
of consenting adults of any gender/orientation should
not be able to enter into mutually beneficial
marriage-like domestic partnerships for purposes
procreating and raising children while making ends
meet. Sort of the human equivalent of a pack or pride.
Bigger than a standard marriage but smaller than a
tribe.



    

Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, or who said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."- Siddhartha Guatama aka Buddha.


 
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