AWe Alone? SETI Institute Science Radio:Sex: What is it Good For?

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "John Frazer" wrote:
>
> Mentally separate sex from reproduction, and it all sorts out in your
> head, and the sense of alarm dissipates. ;-)
> We're more than bacterium, more even than ape-men clawing their way
> through millennia of the Neolithic ages. Imagination and "feelings"
> have taken over for the pure-cave-man rut, now that there's education
> and leisure time for thinking (Granted, there's always exceptions,
> and swooning for the brutes seems all too common sometimes... :-O ).
> Other options for combining genes exist, to provide alternatives for
> creating children. From host mothers & sperm/egg donors to help non-
> viable couples, to maybe eventually artificial wombs so there's no
> risk to a female who must carry it (this one's dubious, IMO), to
> possibly tailored genetic make-up to suit the parent's wishes (for a
> long time now, you can separate male-giving wigglers from female, and
> pick what you want).
>
> Contrary to the Abrahamic monotheism religious tradition, sex is now
> about more than producing a male orgasm to start offspring in a
> female for procreation. Most people, when they participate in sex,
> are doing it for more than instinctive reproduction ("News flash!").
> I'll bet that most sex happens outside of holy matrimony, and without
> the express intent to procreate.
> There are still guilt-ridden religious sects that go to extremes
> like removing genital nerve-bearing tissues to reduce sensitivity, or
> use the bedsheet with a hole in the center, so sex is not for
> enjoyment, but that sort of thing is rare, hopefully on its way out.
>
Yeah no kidding... And a good point we are one of the few animals on
this planet that have sex for just the pleasure of it. chances are we
wont stop anytime soon..... Even if we dont need to to reproduce with
sex any more.