Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives. —Bertrand Russell
Sexual intercourse may not be required for the perpetuation of the species, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be fun
Intercourse, that aspect of sexual relations performed primarily for and to the end of creating more little people with which to overpopulate the planet, is a problem. There are, globally, too many of us for the planet to sustain. Yet, due to uneven distribution of that population we, as Americans, don’t see the effects that come from having an excessive amount of copulation. We don’t see the overcrowding. We don’t see the poverty. We don’t see the disease. There’s a tremendous problem and, for the most part, we’re keeping our eyes shut.
Our children and grandchildren, however, may not have to deal with many of the consequences that come from our insatiable desire for sex. Earlier this week, we discussed how that, given that free will is a myth, we might one day be able to map the chemicals and neuron combinations that lead to inappropriate behaviors, such as murder, rape, and threat, and turn those off. Imagine how much better the world will be when we turn off that inclination and desire to kill people and do them harm.
Then, I was reading last night an article concerning how close we are to taking the sex out of procreation. With advances in in-vitro fertilization (IVF), not only is it safer to procreate without intercourse, the world’s longevity may soon require that to be the only means through which children are born. We may not have a choice.
Here’s the thing: procreating the old-fashion way of picking a mate and shagging until you’re purple carries with it a load of dangers. Not only is there the threat of sexually transmitted diseases, there’s an even greater likelihood that both of you are passing along genetic traits and tendencies that lead to even worse outcomes. The intercourse with which we are most familiar allows us to pass on to our children the entire gene structure of our ancestors, including their inclination toward male-pattern baldness, Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, and over 250 other potentially fatal conditions that can already easily be eliminated with IVF.
As research continues, we may eventually be able to completely eradicate genetic disease and quite possibly build immunities against other forms of illness as well. Within four or five generations, we could have a population that is stronger and healthier than we have ever been. The downside to that, though, is that we won’t die off as fast, making the overpopulation problem even more critical than it already is.
Somewhere within the next one hundred years, overpopulation cannot help but become a front line issue that politicians and governments can no longer ignore. You think government interference in your sex life is bad now, it could get a lot worse. Requiring children to be conceived only through IVF or some similar method does two things that are important for the future. First, it makes our offspring healthier, wiser, and safer. If we drop genetic diseases and eliminate the chemicals and synaptic combinations that lead to crime, we have the healthiest and safest society ever. Second, by using only IVF, the rate of procreation can be controlled. We can effectively bring population numbers down in the most heavily populated areas of the world, and boost them in those regions where underpopulation is also a problem.
At this point, we no longer need intercourse. In fact, one has to wonder if, among all the other impulses we filter from human existence, we might not eventually elimination sexual desire altogether. After all, how many really good science fiction movies have you seen where the characters showed any inclination toward boinking each other? We might see a passionate kiss here and there because we can’t imagine expressing deep emotion any other way, but that’s about all we get in the future: a kiss. That prospect would be rather sad and disappointing.
However, if we don’t need intercourse but can still have intercourse, what that does is open the door toward exploring sex simply as an elevated means of physical pleasure. If we no longer have to worry about disease or accidental pregnancies, we are free to explore and allow our sexual lives to be more open. Proclivities we have hidden behind the term “kink” would more likely be brought out into the open, become more socially acceptable, and explore means of physical pleasure from which we currently shy away. Not using sex to have babies has the potential to be very freeing.
With such developments, we could also see a significant shift in power control as gay and lesbian individuals, whose sexual activities don’t produce children already, become the preferred leadership around the world. This would follow a line of reasoning wherein those who can still procreate naturally are seen as a threat to world security. Same-gender sex could very well become the dominant form of sex, which just might make the world a more fabulous place to live.
Of course, there’s a downside. Stolen genetic material might be manipulated in such a way as to create a race of super villains the like of which no one at Marvel or DC Comics has ever imagined. I assume the appropriate response from some future grandchild of Tony Stark would be to create a combative race of superheroes to keep the rest of us safe. The world would likely never be perfect, but it would definitely be interesting.
For better or worse, all of these possibilities still lie reasonably well into the future. I’m not expecting to walk into my doctor’s office one day and be told, “Hey, we can cure you of all that old-age grumpiness.” I’m not sure I would want that to happen. But if they can make intercourse better, then sign us all up! The future could be very pleasurable.
Morning Update: 06/13/24
Feeling okay and doing well are two separate things. I felt fine yesterday when the day started. Tipper and I took a walk to the store, though, and I found myself running short of breath before we got there. I only needed olive oil and freezer bags, but when we got to the register, I forgot the sequence of the numbers in my PIN. I remember which numbers are involved, just not the order. Tipper was able to handle the olive oil for me, but not the freezer bags. I still need freezer bags.
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it home without having to stop and rest. The round trip is only three miles, a trip that we’ve taken often without any problem. It easily fulfills the 6000-step recommendation for the day’s activities. Yesterday, for reasons I can’t explain, my body wasn’t having it. I came home, went to bed, and pretty much stayed there. There was lunch in there somewhere, G made stew for dinner, which was really good. Still, it wasn’t all that late when I made all the cats scoot over and make room so I could go to bed for the night.
Today may be more of the same. I don’t feel rested. I need a shower and should do a load of laundry or two, but sitting here this morning I’m not convinced that any of it is actually going to happen. I wish it were easier to know which disease is causing which problem. If I did, I could contact the appropriate doctor and perhaps we could make some adjustments in medication. As it is, I just have to put up with what I hope are mere side effects to the overall situation.
I don’t know if you saw last night’s rant about the stupid things people are doing, but looking through the headlines this morning, and that’s all I’ve had time to do, I’m beginning to wonder if stupidity is part of our DNA. I’m not sure how science would prove such a concept. There would have to be a specific stupidity marker at the very least, or possibly even a stupidity gene that is handed down from generation to generation. I think the matter is worth the investigation. Let me tell you why.
2000-year-old DNA from skeletal remains found at Chichen Itza show a pattern of child sacrifice as part of religious ceremonies long before there was any European influence. They were all boys, often siblings, sometimes twins. We already know that ancient Phoenicians, Canaanites, Assyrians, and some branches of post-Abrahamic Israelites (Yahwists) all committed child sacrifice. For me, this makes an argument that void of any scientific understanding of the world or the universe, people make incredibly stupid decisions in the hope that those decisions might somehow change whatever is being experienced. Who/where they are doesn’t seem to make any difference. Stupid was there in the beginning.
Today, we sacrifice our children in different ways. Sometimes we call it war. Sometimes we call it religious rights. Sometimes we can call it safety and security. No matter what we call it or how it is achieved, the results are exactly the same: dead children offered up to appease some unknown and unknowable force in hopes that the world will get better. We blindly think that if we can just dominate this group, if we can overpower that country, if we can force this opinion over the whole populace, that things are going to get better, and if our children have to die in the process, then so be it.
Think about that for a minute. How does what we’re doing today make us any different than the ancient Assyrians, Yahwists, Phoenicians, or Mayans? Are we supposed to be comforted by the fact that we dress them up in smart uniforms and arm them with weapons that allow them to kill and be killed by enemies they never see?
This morning, there are Russian warships in Havanna Harbor. Remember what happened 60 years ago when that was just a threat? I was still little, but the memory of the fear my parents felt is still present. This morning, G7 leaders decided to use the interest from seized Russian assets to pay for Ukraine’s defense against the invading bully. Despite the UN’s demand for a cease-fire, Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and Hamas leaders say proposed amendments to the cease-fire are “insignificant.”
It’s been 1,000 Days since the Taliban barred girls from secondary education. Pro-Trump influencers fire up fears of migrant ‘invasion’ and the people they’re using don’t even know they’re being involved. Denmark recalls some Buldak spicy noodles as social media dares spread because that stupid gene apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree. Democrats are forcing a vote on women’s right to IVF in an election-year push on reproductive care. Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit of last Tulsa Race Massacre survivors seeking reparations because even our justices don’t really believe in Justice.
So please, dear geneticists around the world, would you mind looking for a DNA-level sign that we humans are inherently stupid? It would explain a lot of our behavior, both historic and current, and if we can identify what’s causing the problem, perhaps we can do something to curb it, if not eliminate it entirely.
Please. I’m starting to wonder how much longer we can survive ourselves.
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