[p2p-research] Intelligent People Have "Unnatural" Preferences And Values That Are Novel In...

[Ryan Lanham]

On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 8:09 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

> My view is that enforced social models for sexuality are strongly related
> to the emergence of property and class society, though tribal societies had
> different models, but in any case, I think it would be fair to observe that
> these types of relationships have always been enforced culturally, in one
> way or another .. there is probably no such think as a unsocialized
> sexuality and relationality.
>

There have always been non standard views of these things and there always
will be.  Standard views will likely continue to emphasize some property
contractual marriage and emphasize a stable household concept for raising
children.  Including LGBT communities in those stable models is increasingly
standard in educated/progressive portions of the US and Europe as it of
course should be.

The real issue is population growth.  Besides or with climate change, the
great issue of the 21st century is population.  We don't yet know what is
too much and what is too little.  My guess is that populations fall sharply,
so many on this list in their 20s will, I doubt, ever procreate.
The average person in Europe or N. America between 12-25 I'd guess will NOT
have a child.  That will come first in Japan, Nordic nations, California,
the Pacific Northwest in Canada and the U.S. and similar
progressive/technologically oriented places.  Places with a lot
of spirituality and especially religion will lag.  Those that are
fundamental and low tech (agrarian) will continue to explode with population
and die-offs.

Sexuality follows these trends.  It doesn't create them.  So, I think you
will see declining sexuality in the progressive places, and increasing
sexuality in repressed places.  There won't be one trend.  Androgyny will
increase in progressive places as it already has...men and women will
look more alike and, in many ways, be more alike in styles, preferences,
looks, etc.  Trans-gender desires and ambitions will increase.  There are
now more women body builders in my gym than male ones (an admittedly silly
personal data point--but it comes to mind).  That sort of thing will
continue.  As the original article suggested, women will become more
sexually aggressive (as has been well documented in progressive societies).
Men will become less so (also no surprise to sociologists.)  Individual
preferences will cover huge possible spectra in places that are
progressive.  Androgyny is already highly valued in Japanese urban scenes.
You see it more and more in places like France and California.  Make-up
sales, etc. have been down for years...reds have become tans and
creams...again, well documented business trends.  Dance clubs look very
androgynous.  Technology will factor.  People want sex to be safe, quiet,
legal and practical.  Technology can meet some of those needs for people who
are willing to forego deep emotional connections--more and more people are.
Again, the sociologists have published at length the tendancy of modern
young people to be more comfortable with being alone.

So, if I had to create a future of sexuality, I'd anticipate androgyny, sex
with robots and dramatic increases in personal/casual outlets.  I'd also
anticipate dramatic increases and acceptance rates of LGBT lifestyles.  I
think birth rates will fall markedly and that tending to the aged will be a
major issue in progressive/technological countries.

How any  of that relates to economic systems, I don't know.  I suspect we
will have more women leaders in all fields, more educated women than men,
and perhaps a continued male dominance for a longer time of technical fields
given biases and possibly some innate capacities.  I personally doubt the
capacity part, but I hear it from respected scientists, and while I find it
morally repugnant, if it is a simple fact that men are more tech savvy on
average than women, then so be it.  I'm not sure it should lead to policies
or actions.  There are already far more women than men in college
and various gradate schools1 in most developed societies.  The average
person taking a PhD in the US who is not foreign born is a woman.
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