It's Not You, It's Biology by Joe Quirk

Author:Joe Quirk [Quirk, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-13T04:13:38.804000+00:00

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YOU DON’T HAVE AN ORGASM, AN ORGASM HAS YOU

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The neocortex was designed to help you socially strategize among people you don’t want to make babies with. If your nose tells you your immune system perfectly complements the immune system of the village idiot, your genes don’t want your brain figuring out that this spells social suicide. The biological function of love is to make you passionate, impulsive, and stupid. That’s why it feels so good. Notice how lizards don’t fall in love. They don’t need to.

They’re already stupid.

Remember, ladies: hot for the power suit? That’s a wife strategy for resources. Hot for the immune system? That’s a concubine strategy for genes.

This is how we should look at the double-mating strategies of men and women. We don’t do things because we want to spread our genes. We want to do things because those actions spread our ancestors’ genes. Females don’t consciously decide to strategize for one man’s resources and another man’s genetic material. Female feelings are structured by biology to strategize for optimum sperm and optimum nests. Two reproductive goals—one to create offspring, one to raise offspring—will select for two behavior strategies. If both resources and genes come in the same male, that’s fine. If not, fantasies arise.

Too bad that understanding where our desires come from does not justify acting on them. No biological explanation for how the urge to murder was constructed by natural selection will ever justify murder. Just because an action paid off reproductively for our ancestors does not make it morally right.

Natural does not mean good. Disease is natural. Murder, rape, lying, and adultery are all quite natural, as are love, compassion, trust, and loyalty. The gene is so amoral, it constructed both morality and immorality to serve itself. Darwinian selection gave us a ItsNotYou Int.qxp:Sperm interior.qxp 6/6/08 10:21 AM Page 140

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suite of emotions, among them love and murderous rage. It did not tell us what actions to choose.

Who is that knocking? It’s the gutter guy come to collect his payment. Your bird-brain just told you to open your robe before you open the door. Your human neocortex says inhibit that instinct and don’t risk losing your precious pair-bond.

Free genes are waiting at your door. The size of your husband’s testicles tells you some of your female ancestors succeeded with the adultery strategy. The average size ratio of men and women tells you some of your male ancestors succeeded by killing or humiliating other men.

The wail of your imminent orgasm tells you sluttiness sometimes paid off. The surge in your heart tells you faithfulness sometimes paid off.

Which do you choose?

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