Re: Mind drugs, chemical romance, and ...

Brooks Moses wrote:

David Friedman wrote:
Another idea that occurred to me along related lines.

A female, in choosing a mate, has (from a reproductive standpoint) two
different issues to consider. One is his genetic quality, since her
children will get some of his genes. The other is his quality as a
partner in rearing the children--and, more generally, in life.

One possible strategy, indulged in by both human females and the females
of "monogamous" birds, is monogamy tempered by adultery. Pair up with
the best provider willing to have you, then get pregnant by whatever
male has the best available genes that you have access to.

Now consider the situation in the very near future. The adultery version
doesn't work very well, because her husband can easily determine if her
children are his. On the other hand, artificial insemination gives her
access to a much greater range of potential sperm than in the past. So
now a woman faces (at least) two alternatives. She can pair up with a
man, bear his children, rear them jointly--which gives her his
assistance, but means that she probably has to settle for pretty average
genes. Or she can get pregnant via superb sperm--superb by whatever
criteria matter to her--at the cost of having to rear the child alone.

Note that your set of options assumes that the potential spouse is only
willing to raise children who bear their genes. If you believe in an
inescapable biological imperative to do that, fine, but I suspect that
for humans this is largely social, and it is entirely plausible that in
a slightly different society a woman could find a partner who will help
her raise her children but would also prefer that the children have
"better" sperm than his.


It also doesn't allow for the idea that women might want to have
children (raise a child, watch it grow, interact with it) without
wanting to pass on their genes; so both partners might resort to AI for
that reason.

Plus, we are already moving towards a model where people partner up and
split up if things don't work out, and thus taking on someone else's
biologial child (and loving it _as your child_ because you brought it
up) is becoming increasingly common. Currently single mothers don't seem
to be as disadvantages in finding partners as they used to do; but then
a lot of _men_ come as IFUs (Instant Family Unit) as well; and more and
more men are taking an active part in raising their kids, which is a
Good Thing.

Catja

Catja



--
writing blog @ http://beyond-elechan.livejournal.com
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