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So, from the beginning of humans (or well before really) until sometime in the mid-60's (or a little later depending on the area), the primary determinant of wh

So, from the beginning of humans (or well before really) until sometime in the mid-60's (or a little later depending on the area), the primary determinant of whether or not you had children is whether or not you were in a sexual relationship. Not that this was all that mattered, but it was the primary filter. In the last few decades, the primary determinant is whether or not you want children. Again, it's not the only reason, but it's the primary filter. So, natural selection might be in the middle of producing a species of humans obsessed with children, and not that interested in sex (except as a means of getting children). Of course, that's ridiculous; if that were true you would see declining self-reports of how often people are having sex. Don't look up the data on that, btw.

wing-_-nuts 5y ago
Given what I've seen over the past decade, I think the first part of Idiocracy was prophetic.
jedberg 5y ago
> Of course, that's ridiculous; if that were true you would see declining self-reports of how often people are having sex. It's only been one generation. You'd need to wait a few 100 years before you see any change.
iammisc 5y ago
> So, natural selection might be in the middle of producing a species of humans obsessed with children, and not that interested in sex (except as a means of getting children). Why would you assume this? The only reason you'd assume this is that you have a preconceived notion that those of us who want lots of kids don't want sex. That's ridiculous. I'm a pretty traditional catholic, and it's pretty clear from my own life and my interactions with other traditional catholic men that we really like sex. In fact, given the stats, we and our wives like sex more than most people [1]. We also like the babies that come out. That's part of the fun. People like to group us religious people as sex-averse. It's quite the opposite. We just follow the normal ethics one would come up with (religious or not) if you viewed children as part of the natural results of sex (because.... they are). In that framework, religious exhortations like 'Don't have sex unless you're in a publicly recognized and blessed committed relationship (i.e., marriage)' become as obvious as 'don't have sex with people who don't want it'. [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/paeekv/why-conservatives-have-better-sex-lives-than-liberals https://www.vice.com/en/article/paeekv/why-conservatives-hav...

wing-_-nuts 5y ago

Given what I've seen over the past decade, I think the first part of Idiocracy was prophetic.

jedberg 5y ago

> Of course, that's ridiculous; if that were true you would see declining self-reports of how often people are having sex. It's only been one generation. You'd need to wait a few 100 years before you see any change.

iammisc 5y ago

> So, natural selection might be in the middle of producing a species of humans obsessed with children, and not that interested in sex (except as a means of getting children). Why would you assume this? The only reason you'd assume this is that you have a preconceived notion that those of us who want lots of kids don't want sex. That's ridiculous. I'm a pretty traditional catholic, and it's pretty clear from my own life and my interactions with other traditional catholic men that we really like sex. In fact, given the stats, we and our wives like sex more than most people [1]. We also like the babies that come out. That's part of the fun. People like to group us religious people as sex-averse. It's quite the opposite. We just follow the normal ethics one would come up with (religious or not) if you viewed children as part of the natural results of sex (because.... they are). In that framework, religious exhortations like 'Don't have sex unless you're in a publicly recognized and blessed committed relationship (i.e., marriage)' become as obvious as 'don't have sex with people who don't want it'. [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/paeekv/why-conservatives-have-better-sex-lives-than-liberals https://www.vice.com/en/article/paeekv/why-conservatives-hav...