sex (was The Extropian Principles)
Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@factory.net)
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 15:39:37 -0700 (PDT)
On Wed, 21 Aug 1996 QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:
> I observe that, like emotions, people will tend to view Sex as noncognitive,
> or "not an issue" with brain developement ( strange because most primates I
> know spend a high perecentage of their brain energy trying to find it or
> thinking about it) - A friend of mine returned from a week long conference on
> consciousness and cognition and I asked about the topic, what people said
> about sex and what the latest developements were in this arena - I laughed
> as it dawned on us that there was not one lecture or booth or comment on it -
> apparently this function of the brain is to "low brow" to explore!
I've always been fond of Tom's essay in Extropy #3 pointing out that sex
is, or at least can be, the highest-bandwidth form of communication
possible between two human beings. Given my own recently growing
conviction that (at least minimal) communication with other rational
beings is part and parcel of rationality, this way of thinking about sex
could lead to some interesting research programs into the possibility that
sexual behavior (or at least some kinds of sexual behavior) can directly
enhance cognitive function and even, yes, rationality.