lacognac69
Registered Member
What are people's theorys about why sex feels good? Was this something that evolved or was nature "smart" enough to make it feel good to ensure our survival? Or can only God explain this?
Was evolution or the big bang "smart" enough to make sex pleasurable?
- Thread starter lacognac69
- Start date
The evolutionary argument is very simple:
Take two populations of people.
Group A, for random reasons, finds sex immensely pleasurable, and so has sex often and produces many children.
Group B finds sex boring and distasteful, and tries to avoid having sex. Therefore, group B has no children.
Plonk groups A and B on the savannah and come back in 100 years. Will the people you meet be more likely to be descended from group A or group B, do you think? And will those people be likely to enjoy sex, or not?
Take two populations of people.
Group A, for random reasons, finds sex immensely pleasurable, and so has sex often and produces many children.
Group B finds sex boring and distasteful, and tries to avoid having sex. Therefore, group B has no children.
Plonk groups A and B on the savannah and come back in 100 years. Will the people you meet be more likely to be descended from group A or group B, do you think? And will those people be likely to enjoy sex, or not?
lacognac69
Registered Member
Facial said:
ya this is true but how was nature know to make sex pleasurable? It seems to me that making reproduction pleasurable requires some sort of intelligence. Why wouldn't evolution tell animals to engage in oral sex or something else instead? This certainly wouldn't keep the species alive if it were prefered. SO how did this "intelligent design" take place. It certainly couldn't be a random thing, it was meant to happen but why is it meant to happen? How did nature know to make this happen if it is all random? I am not going either way on this issue I am just curious to what the explanation is.
lacognac69
Registered Member
James R said:
Ya that is the simple answer I was looking for. It definitely makes sense.
RoyLennigan
Registered Senior Member
lacognac69 said:
it seems like it takes intelligence to make sex enjoyable, but thats only because it is that way. sex is enjoyable because those that enjoy sex have a greater chance of passing their characteristics on.
"Why wouldn't evolution tell animals to engage in oral sex or something else instead? This certainly wouldn't keep the species alive if it were prefered."
you answered your own question here. it certainly wouldn't keep the species alive if oral sex were preferred. thats why oral sex is not perferred.
evolution doesnt tell an organism anything. evolution is a theory that describes how speciation occurs through gene differentiation and reproduction between the species. the organisms around today are the ones that survived because some characteristic related to a gene mutation was advantageous to its survival (over other species that have since become extinct). obviously an organism that finds sex pleasurable is going to have a lot more children than an organism that doesnt. therefore there will be a lot more organisms like the one that enjoys sex and there will be few or none of the one that doesnt.
This is more proper for the biology section. This is not a philosophical question, really, aside from the notion of God, which could be best served to be answered from in the Religion area.
James R said:
James, that's okay as far as it goes, but it seems to me that you've left out one of the most important aspects of sex in the natural world ....the innate and periodic urge to mate. Not for pleasure, nor is it distasteful ...it's simply an urge akin to taking a shit or piss! And most, if not all animals, experience that urge, whether it's pleasurable or not.
All-in-all, I think the original question might have been about why there is even pleasure attached to sex at all. Most animals live comfortably and happily for most of the year without having sex, yet their numbers thrive. So ...why did the pleasure-part of sex evolve?
I think I know the answer ...if one looks at the animals that enjoy sex, you'll find that their young take much, much longer to grow to adulthood and need lots of protection from their parents. Sex is thus used by the females to keep the stronger males around close for the protection of themselves and their young.
Baron Max
why are their flowers and bees? why do we enjoy flowers?....did a mean b k=cccpower to the etc?...it just is......consciousness and matter energy ar a creative living event....and it wants to enjoy sex in as may ways a s possible.....yeah kids. not too many--like we got, due to patriarchal indoctrination which looks down on alterantive same sex, and nonprocreative sex....but that is the limited mindset......eally what-ever-it-is is dynamically creative and sexuality is the warp of the woof off...EROS rules OK
lacognac69
Registered Member
It seems to me that an animal must be aroused to have sex, so it seems that this arousal doesn't occur just because we are decendents of animals that liked having sex. If the animals that survive are the ones that have sex does that explain why sex is pleasurable. Wasn't sex always pleasurable whether or not certain animals liked it and other ones didn't? How would pleasure evolve in sex? Whether or not animals randomly tried and enjoyed sex wouldn't there be a built in reason to why they would actually enjoy it? Maybe im going in circles here but it still seems like there is some sort of intelligence behind sex. Evolution seems like too easy of a way to explain anything almost a cop out.
Huh? Evolving towards pleasurablility gives an obvious reproductive advantage to an animal in what would otherwise be a risky behavior that would be avoided. It takes energy and attention and it needs to be worth it. Why is eating food pleasurable?
huma sex---i cant speak for animal sex, and really cant pin down human sexuality either. everyone is different....but, thepotential of human sex is ecstatic. what patriarchy did was try and STOP the evolution of sex by puttin a plug in it...so to speak. for exmple, te female sexual capacity is even more profound tha the males. a woma can have multiple orgasms.....te patriarchal domination over women has caused a serious oppression. some cu;ltures push the myth of female circumcision/mutiliationlacognac69 said:
whati am saying is is tat potentil floweringof sexual pleasuree riiides wid WOman.......tho of course males ca also open up to it. Willhelm Reich goes into how culure makes males wome repress the orgasm......notallow it fullest flow
RoyLennigan
Registered Senior Member
most of the time the easiest explanation (that still explains everything) is the best.lacognac69 said:
somewhere along the line, complex organisms split off into two groups while still in the same species. opposites have sex with each other and one of them is impregnated, ultimately giving birth. this was all due to mutations in the genes that caused them to have sexual reproduction instead of asexual (worms show the transitional stage here) now, sexual reproduction allows for a greater chance of gene differentiation and mutation. this allows a species to adapt better to their environment over a shorter period of time (relative to asexual reproduction). this means that organisms that reproduce sexually will survive better than competing organisms that reproduce asexually (in the long run). only the species that can find a [temporary] niche in the ecosystem will survive to procreate.
mutations are always occuring in the dna of organisms. most of the time these mutations are benign. sometimes they are detrimental to the organism's survival, in which case that gene is quickly phased out (becomes extinct). sometimes the mutation is advantageous for the organism and causes it to either (a) have a greater chance of survivability over others of the same species, and/or (b) have a greater chance to reproduce (the more females a male reproduces with or the more children he has, the greater chance his genes will be passed on).
i don't think i have to tell anyone the advantages of a sexually reproductive species that finds immense pleasure in having sex. there is no need for intelligence behind anything that happens through evolution. it is just a system that works. a [random] mutation in an animal causes it to have a large cluster of nerve endings right on/next to its reproductive organs. this animal is then going to have as much sex as it possibly can because whenever it does, all those nerve endings are stimulated, therefore causing pleasure. pleasure is then associated with having sex. the memory is imprinted. simple as that. now because this particular animal has so much sex, it is going to have a lot more offspring with the same/similar genes compared to other individuals of that species. these offspring will also [mostly] enjoy sex, maybe even more than their parent. they will then go out and have as much sex as possible, spreading the genes even more. having sex more also enables greater gene differentiation and more chance of mutation. the species adapts faster. those that don't enjoy sex soon become extinct. all that is left is a species that enjoys sex.
I once did a college essay on this and I wanted to come up wih something unusual combining philosophy and science. This is the short version. Note: Injecting sex into a university paper is worth at least 25-50 marks and even that estimate may be low. Try it, it works.
No two people share the same 'now'. Each of us view the other from different spacetime co-ordinates. A 'now' is a very lonely existence. Sex provides an opportunity for 'nows' to get as close as they ever will be in time or space. The closeness of sex is a sharing of the moment for two 'nows' (or more than 2, preferences you know), perhaps life's most pleasing experience. Therefore nature has made it certain that sex in any fashion is pleasurable.
Now some of you will wonder about the difference between masturbation and partner sex. Another topic all together.
Funny that when you deliberately try to have children it doesn't seem to be as much fun. Its like work.
No two people share the same 'now'. Each of us view the other from different spacetime co-ordinates. A 'now' is a very lonely existence. Sex provides an opportunity for 'nows' to get as close as they ever will be in time or space. The closeness of sex is a sharing of the moment for two 'nows' (or more than 2, preferences you know), perhaps life's most pleasing experience. Therefore nature has made it certain that sex in any fashion is pleasurable.
Now some of you will wonder about the difference between masturbation and partner sex. Another topic all together.
Funny that when you deliberately try to have children it doesn't seem to be as much fun. Its like work.
Baron Max:
I don't believe any animal has an urge to produce offspring. I don't think most animals know that sex leads to conception and the birth of young. I think they mate because they enjoy it - that's the only reason.
Of course, I'm thinking of mammals here, mainly. It is harder to put yourself in the position of an insect or spider, for example, which can't be guaranteed to have a mammal-like sense of enjoyment.
Most animals (mammals) only come "on heat" at certain times of the year. When they do, they send out signals in all kinds of ways which get animals of the opposite sex excited. But most mammals still engage in sex-like activity even when not on heat, and when there is no chance of conception. For example, if you've ever watched a herd of cows, you'll see them mount each other just for the fun of it, even when the mounted cow is not on heat. And females mount females, and males mount males, too. No chance of conception there, obviously.
Yes, that's part of it, too.
I don't believe any animal has an urge to produce offspring. I don't think most animals know that sex leads to conception and the birth of young. I think they mate because they enjoy it - that's the only reason.
Of course, I'm thinking of mammals here, mainly. It is harder to put yourself in the position of an insect or spider, for example, which can't be guaranteed to have a mammal-like sense of enjoyment.
Most animals (mammals) only come "on heat" at certain times of the year. When they do, they send out signals in all kinds of ways which get animals of the opposite sex excited. But most mammals still engage in sex-like activity even when not on heat, and when there is no chance of conception. For example, if you've ever watched a herd of cows, you'll see them mount each other just for the fun of it, even when the mounted cow is not on heat. And females mount females, and males mount males, too. No chance of conception there, obviously.
Yes, that's part of it, too.
Again, I state:
THIS IS NOT PHILOSOPHY. Can we please limit biological speculation to the area suited best for it?
THIS IS NOT PHILOSOPHY. Can we please limit biological speculation to the area suited best for it?
no James R, i also think insects have a well good time with sex.......examples. last summer i was in te garden and saw this peculiar sight on the window. it was like an insect with wings outstretched on each side.....looked closer. i saw it was one insect but two conjoined in a tantra loking sex act. tey were like that for ages and ages and ages.....and
also....wasps, etc. they seek our fermented fruit and fly around stoned...! if so i bet they dig sex too
also....wasps, etc. they seek our fermented fruit and fly around stoned...! if so i bet they dig sex too