Tag: philosophy

The Evolutionary Purpose of Human Sexuality

Why do we have sex? Why do human beings put so much effort into having it? The basic answer would be because it feels pleasurable. Yes, that is true, sex can be quite a pleasurable sensation, but there are many pleasurable things like eating a piece of chocolate or getting a nice soothing massage, yet we don’t put anywhere near the amount of time and effort into doing these things as we do towards having sex. Another answer is for the purpose of reproduction, but with the plethora of birth control oppositions (birth control pills, condoms, etc) is that really a viable reason why most people have for having sex, particularly in the Western world?

What is the purpose of sex? easy enough to answer. It is the mechanism that organisms use to propagate their genes into the next generation(well, at least half), and why do organisms(multicellular organisms such as mammals, fish, and birds) use this method? Well, some have theorized that it helps bolster their progenies’ immune system by having shared its genetic information from two genetically distinct parents. Current theories place the emergence of sex around five hundred million years ago.

All life’s purpose on this planet is to reproduce( as nihilistic as that sounds), and it is no different for humans. Our urge to have sex is a by-product of millions of years of evolutionary history. Our ability to discriminate between sexual partners under the guise of physical attraction is also a by-product of our evolutionary history. Physically attractive people are supposed to have a good immune system so the theory goes.

And what about the differences between the sexes when it comes to their attitudes about. Anyone who has dealings with both men and women would discover their attitudes towards sex are decisively different. Men are more prone to sexual escapades and seem to be less discriminatory when it comes to who they have sex with. Women are generally more coy. This makes sense when you realize the two sexes don’t share the same burden when it comes to sex, i.e, women get pregnant and will take the brunt of the child rearing, so it makes sense for them to be the more prejudiced who they copulate with. Men, on the other hand, are programmed to have sex with as many partners as possible(if they actually choose to do this, it is their own choice, of course). Need proof on how promiscuous men can be, gay men are a perfect example, their ability to have sometimes hundreds of sexual partners is because of course, because they are not inhibited by women’s natural coyness.

So, back to my original argument on why to have sex. To be more emotionally attached to somebody, a reasonable argument, your brain releases certain chemicals that almost make you more attached to the person you are having sex with(evidence suggests this is more true for women than it is for men), but a lot of people hook up all the time, sometimes even having one-night stands. Can you really be emotionally attached to a person you are minimally familiar with, and what about the countless women who give up their bodies to alpha males(i.e, athletes, rappers, politicians, and other men of stature), can you really say these women love these men, perhaps on a very superficial level?

Humans’ potency to have sex is nothing more than just evolutionary mechanisms put in place to make sure we are acting on evolutionary obligations to propagate genes into the next generation.

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Embracing Aging: A Journey Through Life’s Disappointments

Getting older can be seen as a dreadful experience. When we are young, we feel as if things will get better as time passes, but then comes the truth for most of us around our mid-twenties that this is not the case. Things only get worse, your body slowly deteriorates, and you notice you are not quite as energetic as you once were. I can remember getting up in the morning and going to the park, and playing basketball for the entire day. Now, such a thought I find to be dreadful. I’m about to turn 28. Now, to most that would seem to be a still relatively young age, but to me, it’s the beginning of the spiral. The source of the optimism that I once had has begun to fade. When I was younger, I felt as if I had a plethora of opportunities in front of me to pursue, but not anymore. Can I become a doctor, probably, if I wanted to start working at 40? Can I become a professional athlete now that the ship has sailed after high school? Am I going to still be able to talk to young girls(young as in between 18 & 24) and they still find me attractive, or am I going to be that old guy pushing too hard?

Now comes the question of whether or not I accomplish anything worthwhile. Or have I just wasted my youth? Can I look back as I get older and say I lived a fulfilling life? I guess the answer to that question is both comparative and subjective. On one hand, am I comparing my life to other people around or people I see in the media? Secondly, am I comparing my life to an unrealistic, idealistic way in which my life should have turned out? The true answer is I don’t fully know, but I do feel at times I missed out on opportunities when I was young that I’ll never be able to get a chance at as I get older. I suppose the best thing for me to do is accept the fact that I am getting older, that one day I will die, this is just the process of life, how life has carried on on this earth since microbes first populated the earth.

Life is just a process that goes on. People overcome their childhood to reach adulthood, get married, have kids, and then they die, leaving their children to continue on to the same processes. Many people cope with this by using religion as a comfort, which is OK, I guess, but what about us who don’t have a god? Is there some alternative for us, some sort of spirituality that can help us as a leading light in this darkness we call life? Maybe we should just accept a materialistic world that has no real purpose.

To be human is something, I guess you just have to overcome, as spoken by Zarathustra. We all cling on to things to help us forget about life, whether it’s movies, watching our favorite television show, following our favorite sport team, reading a thrilling novel, are engaging in an addictive video game, these are all just distraction to the inevitable that someday we are all going to die, and the earth will continue to orbit the sun. just as some person who lived in China during the 12th century in a small village, had a family, was happy, suffered, and died. Yet I know nothing of this person, but I’m sure he existed just as trillions of other organisms existed on this planet.

But I guess this all doesn’t have to be negative. I recently came across the philosophy of optimistic nihilism, that the mere knowledge of the pointlessness of life can be our refuge. Why does it matter that your boss berated you for doing a bad job? What does matter is that you lost that pick-up game of basketball. What does matter is that you and your spouse of ten years are getting a divorce. Because to the eyes of the universe, none of it matters.

But I suppose these are just fleeting thoughts that some will embrace, some will reject, and some will be indifferent to.

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