[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae, was: Impressive book: Farewell to Alms

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 05/02/2008, Tom Tobin <korpios at korpios.com> wrote:

> "Voluntary" is a tricky term; what about the psychological pressure to
> actively *reproduce*, as a goal (vs. mere sex-as-goal), that many
> people (particularly females) seem to experience?

This is true, but it is a far cry from what would be possible if our
biology had kept pace with technology. Many people in industrialised
countries manage to have ten times as many children as they currently
do. Sperm donors are usually paid for their trouble, rather than
bidding for the opportunity to father multiple offspring at a huge
discount to the cost incurred doing it the usual way. Dictators who
have shown no compunction in killing millions of their own people have
never attempted to use reproductive technologies to forcibly conceive
millions of children.

> Drives can be flexible; if the goal is reproduction (vs. sex, as
> above), it becomes fairly easy for any given subject to route around
> birth control (even when desired by a given partner!).

But the goal isn't reproduction as such, since otherwise the above
scenarios would be commonplace. Rather, the goal is to obtain a cute
baby to raise and love. Reproduction is a side-effect of this as much
as it is a side-effect of having a sexual drive.




-- 
Stathis Papaioannou