• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!
  • Welcome to our archives. No new posts are allowed here.

Why Do We Procreate?

I'll vote for too little breeding for a while. I'd like to test your theory. :mrgreen:

Ah, I got it - you want some juice, doncha? :mrgreen:
 
We're actually talking about populations that have negative growth, like native Europeans and white Americans, and how this seems to become the norm at a certain point in societal development.

The OP sounded concerned about why we procreate beyond what appears necessary for a bountiful existence for our species, instead of stressing it with over populating. And I think the answer to that is nature is not an exact balancing act. The same reason someone overeats because we have instincts that drive us.

As far as Caucasians having negative growth it's more than being compensated by other races. According to the graph below there has been a population explosion from our species since the modernization of civilization and we're quite a ways off from plateauing. Meanwhile we'll be burning thru our natural resources faster than they can be replenished.

Hopefully, I won't be around when they start feeding the masses protein substitutes like "smeat", some goop grown in a petri dish or shooting us thru some magnetic air tube at 4000mph. I know 60mph in a car can kill you just as fast but for some reason the idea of being shot like a rocket thru a pipe freaks me out. I don't even fly in jets yet.

2050.JPG
 
Because sex feels good.

Indeed, roughly half of pregnancies are unintended. A huge chunk of the rest also wouldn't happen if sex wasn't appealing.
 
Is there some inherent instinct to multiply?

Why do we have kids? And why so many?

There is no possible chance that humanity will go extinct. The population is expanding.

So what is it that drive us to have children?

It just seems like it's something we're "supposed" to do.

It's part of life.

But why?

Are people who don't have children somehow deficient?

Is breeding one of our very few instincts?

The best explanation lies in constructural law in my opinion. See, why exactly does the genome evolve to the point that sex is pleasurable? The common explanation is because the survival of the species depends upon it, but how did the genome evolve to that point? There is not much trial and error here. If mutations of genomes resulted in species to not procreate, then extinction would probably happen. How does an inanimate substance like DNA "know" to make sex pleasurable? After all we seem to function due to the pleasure principle. Some people would argue intelligent design. But there has been a new discovery with physics. A law of nature has been discovered; it is constructural law.

Simply, constructural law states that any flow system will create a structure to facilitate its flow. So a river will create the shape that it does to most efficiently carry the volume of water that it has. Scientists are able to predict flow systems ranging from lava to economical systems.

Constructural law dictates the flow of evolution. Successful mutations result in species to travel further distances with the least amount of energy. This is the general trend of evolution. The flow of genetic code so to speak is dependent upon genetic mutations and procreation. The fact that people are having less and less babies is due to imperfections which is the brake so to speak to flow systems. Otherwise they will go out of control. Nature itself, also has mechanisms for population control to balance temperature and the food pyramid.

The simple reason is that everything in nature tends to go to more efficient methods of consuming energy. Most likely, this will be a basic observation not knowing exactly why this is. Everything is imperfect which means evolution will never end. This is why people have the "instinct" to procreate.
 
Is it really instinct though? We are not sea turtles. We're not birds that migrate. Many chose not to have kids. More and more are choosing not to have kids.

If having babies was an instinctual thing wouldn't every single woman with VERY few exceptions have kids?

Isn't having kids a choice? We chose to have them or we chose to not have them.

Isn't it far more of a social/cultural expectation than an instinct?

Can you honestly say you felt some kind of innate internal drive to become a parent?
 
I honestly never thought that this question had to be asked. Yes. It's inherent in all life forms on this planet. Without reproduction, a species won't last very long.

Obviously not, since so many humans simply decide not to.

You don't need instinct when you have social pressure, as humans do. We aren't like animals that go into heat, and there's no evidence we have any instinct except to have sex.
 
Obviously not, since so many humans simply decide not to.

You don't need instinct when you have social pressure, as humans do. We aren't like animals that go into heat, and there's no evidence we have any instinct except to have sex.

Exactly.
And since most of us spend the vast majority of our sex lives doing everything in our power NOT to have children when we have sex I'd say you're correct times 2.

How many times in your life have you had sex with the intent of creating a baby?
Now think about how many times you've had sex.

What's that ratio look like?
 
Exactly.
And since most of us spend the vast majority of our sex lives doing everything in our power NOT to have children when we have sex I'd say you're correct times 2.

How many times in your life have you had sex with the intent of creating a baby?
Now think about how many times you've had sex.

What's that ratio look like?

Uh, well, as a woman who is childfree down to my bones, NEVER. :lol:

And I'm sure I've had sex many hundreds of times.

But even for those who want kids, most of them spend at least the first 10 years of their sex lives trying to avoid babies, as well as the last 20 (until menopause).

There's a few years in the middle where they might be open to it. Or perhaps they just screw up, and decide to go ahead and have the child.

But I don't know anyone who has sex with babies in mind more than 2% of the time. And it's usually more like .002%. :lol:
 
Last edited:
Uh, well, as a woman who is childfree down to my bones, NEVER. :lol:

And I'm sure I've had sex many hundreds of times.

But even for those who want kids, most of them spend at least the first 10 years of their sex lives trying to avoid babies, as well as the last 30.

There's a few years in the middle where they might be open to it. Or perhaps they just screw up, and decide to go ahead and have the child.

But I don't know anyone who has sex with babies in mind more than 2% of the time. :lol:

Hell, based on how many "oops" babies are born.............
 
Hell, based on how many "oops" babies are born.............

Yup. Thus the "or they just screw up..." part.

There's also occasions of people tampering with their partner's or their own birth control to make an "oops." Not as rare as people think, and both sexes do it.
 
Is there some inherent instinct to multiply?

Yes

Why do we have kids? And why so many?

To reproduce - pass on your genetics, and so on, so forth. Why else?

There is no possible chance that humanity will go extinct. The population is expanding.

Well then it seems to be working pretty damned well, I'd say.

So what is it that drive us to have children?

The need to ensure YOUR genetics are passed on - if you've survived, odds are, your genetics and other traits are preferable.

It just seems like it's something we're "supposed" to do.

Yep - it's an essential, can't go on without it.

It's part of life.

Yes it is.


What else are we going to do to keep the numbers going?

Are people who don't have children somehow deficient?

No - not deficient, just choosing to end their genetic line. Hopefully we don't suffer for it as a species overall.

Is breeding one of our very few instincts?

Yes

We "accidentally" have kids because sex is really really really lots of fun.

Yep - the fun part overrides the dangers and risks.

Which is probably sufficient enough to keep the human population from going extinct.

Let's hope so. If I'm going to suffer for 9 months - and then 9 more - and then god knows how many more troublesome years after that, it better involve a little bit of enjoyment for me.

But most people seem to feel it's their duty as a human to make more humans.

Because it's that, too. Can't it have more than one purpose or satisfying aspect?

It's not "if" we have kids anywhere near as much as "how many" and "when".

Well - these days, in some countries, your odds of having children which SURVIVE to adulthood are much higher than they use to be. So you need to parent less of them. However, in most countries and in our own past, it didn't matter - most of your children were unlikely to enter adulthood.

There is little danger of life NOT going on.

Let's hope so. You never know - some species don't make it purely for reproductive issues. Having high numbers doesn't mean you're exempt from the endangered species list. You never know when the next Bubonic Plague size of a disease will come along - and will be more likely to spread worldwide this time around.
 
Passing on our genetics is a crock.

So you're saying Americans want to pass on obesity, balding, poor eye sight, declining/failing intelligence.......

Or are you saying it's all ego?
I'm so great I must create more of me!!!!

I think you posted all the cliche crap....some of which may be slightly true...but I think social/cultural pressure plays a far bigger role.
 
Is it really instinct though? We are not sea turtles. We're not birds that migrate.
We're still animals.

Many chose not to have kids. More and more are choosing not to have kids.
Which is an abnormality.

If having babies was an instinctual thing wouldn't every single woman with VERY few exceptions have kids?
Instincts don't have to be followed. In some cases, they can't.

[/QUOTE]Can you honestly say you felt some kind of innate internal drive to become a parent?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
 
Having kids is a choice.

This is a simple fact that is evident in that most people have relatively few and most people plan them.

Also evident is how often we have sex compared to how many kids we have.

We don't go into "heat".

I don't believe the "instinct" this is 100% correct.

Another factor against "instinct" is the majority of us are monogamous.
Instinct to breed to pass along very specific genetics would dictate against monogamy.
 
Having kids is a choice.

This is a simple fact that is evident in that most people have relatively few and most people plan them.

Also evident is how often we have sex compared to how many kids we have.

We don't go into "heat".

I don't believe the "instinct" this is 100% correct.

Another factor against "instinct" is the majority of us are monogamous.
Instinct to breed to pass along very specific genetics would dictate against monogamy.

Your last sentence....

Why do you believe that 50% of marriages end in divorce?
 
Passing on our genetics is a crock.

So you're saying Americans want to pass on obesity, balding, poor eye sight, declining/failing intelligence.......

Or are you saying it's all ego?
I'm so great I must create more of me!!!!

I think you posted all the cliche crap....some of which may be slightly true...but I think social/cultural pressure plays a far bigger role.

Yup. If it were really a personal instinct to further evolution, then why do humans work so hard to save people with bad traits, who can then go on to reproduce?

Humans don't have the reproductive game competitiveness of other animals that have heats. Because we have no such instinct.

Evolution is not "smart." The things it does are not always objectively the best way of doing things. It's random, and it relies on survival to determine fitness.

Since humans with bad traits survive in great numbers, it is obviously false that humans have the same types of reproductive motivators as most other creatures.

And like I said, that's because evolution determined that we didn't need them. It was wrong in the long run, but evolution isn't smart enough to know that.

Instilling a sense of ego about ones genes, no matter how bad they are, is part of the real reproductive mechanism of humans: social pressures.
 
Last edited:
Your last sentence....

Why do you believe that 50% of marriages end in divorce?

Multiple reasons.

Money being huge.

Getting married to wrong person to begin with.

Lack of sex.

Control.

Sex.

I doubt the number of kids is very high on the list.


Humans want to have sex all the time. Our sex drive might be instinctual.

Not sure actually having kids is the reason why most of us have sex the vast majority of the time.

Is that why you have sex? So you can have another kid?
 
Also, if not wanting kids were some kind of biological defect, it fails to explain why the numbers are shooting up despite the obvious fact that all childfree people came from people who decided to reproduce.

It can't possibly be a defect, because it can't have any biological cause. It's a choice that is possible now that the social option exists, and people are closing it.
 
So to be totally un-PC here, what about these people:

00lpbw.jpg


Having kids to make sure their genes are passed on?
 
Passing on our genetics is a crock.

So you're saying Americans want to pass on obesity, balding, poor eye sight, declining/failing intelligence.......

That's why people should have children till they are young (their bodies that is), so the next generation could make the best out of it. ;) 18 to 30 would be fine, I think. :notlook:
 
Mentally, the vast majority of 18 year olds in America are still children themselves.

I really don't want 18 year olds having kids.

Some are still in high school, most don't have a job, and they all still live at home.
F that.
 
Mentally, the vast majority of 18 year olds in America are still children themselves.

I really don't want 18 year olds having kids.

Some are still in high school, most don't have a job, and they all still live at home.
F that.

**** happens. :)
25 is also a good age for having children.
 
**** happens. :)
25 is also a good age for having children.

That doesn't mean it should happen, or that you should encourage it to happen.

Depends on the 25-year-old. Most of the ones I know are still single, most are barely at entry level work, and some don't even live on their own yet.
 
That doesn't mean it should happen, or that you should encourage it to happen.

Of course, miss S&M, that was a conditional suggestion. Only God has the should/n't judgmental abilities. My abilities are just mental. :)
 
Back
Top Bottom