From: Zeb Haradon (zharadon@inconnect.com)
Date: Mon Dec 20 1999 - 17:05:56 MST
-----Original Message-----
From: Harvey Newstrom <newstrom@newstaffinc.com>
To: extropians@extropy.com <extropians@extropy.com>
Date: Monday, December 20, 1999 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: sex idiocy
>Julian Assange <proff@suburbia.net> wrote on Friday, December 17, 1999 4:55
>pm,
>
>> a) up until recently, sex has never been `for fun'.
>
>This is a common assumption made by arm-chair evolutionists. It is a
>natural assumption to think that evolution would push sex acts toward
>reproduction to increase propagation. This is not the case. Animals will
>mount anything that feels good, including inanimate objects. They seem to
>do whatever feels good or is "fun", and don't seem to care or even know if
>their activities are leading to reproductions. Human activities are
>similar.
>
>Evolution seems to have evolved a strong sex drive without emphasizing
>selectivity. By wanting sex a lot, reproduction often occurs. Pushing
>resources toward pursuit of "fun" sex seems to be a more successful
strategy
>than pushing resources toward "reproductive" sex. Some animals only mate
>when fertile or only mate with females of their own species, but most
>animals will mount and rub their genitals against anything. It seems that
a
>sex drive geared toward "fun" seems to more successful than other
>strategies.
>
>--
>Harvey Newstrom <http://harveynewstrom.com>
>Certified Consultant, Legal Hacker, Engineer, Research Scientist, Author.
>
You forget to mention the obvious - do dogs, cats, earthworms, have the
cognitive capacity to realize that the sexual act they are engaging in will
result in reproduction? Do they think "I would like some offspring, I should
go have sex", in the same way that they might think "I want what's in that
garbage can, I should go tip it over", I doubt it. In fact, I think humans
are the only organism that EVER has sex with the intention of reproducing,
even if that only happens occasionally. (this idea is not mine originally -
read it in some newspaper column a few years ago, by that woman who has the
highest IQ ever measured, I forget her name)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zeb Haradon
My personal website:
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~haradon
A movie I'm directing:
http://www.elevatormovie.com
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