MugaSofer comments on Ritual Report 2012: Life, Death, Light, Darkness, and Love. - Less Wrong

20 Post author: Raemon 23 December 2012 06:56PM

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Comment author: MugaSofer 09 January 2013 01:41:05PM *  -1 points [-]

No, it seriously puts people in a more suggestible state - it's better modeled as a drug that as a behavior. Yes, and there's another bonding behavior that delivers a lot of oxytocin and endorphins, namely sex.

You make a convincing argument in favor of banning sex. :P

Comment author: MixedNuts 09 January 2013 03:51:11PM 2 points [-]

Yes, but people go funny in the head too if sexually frustrated (also religiously frustrated, but more people are susceptible to the former). You could have anonymous wordless one-night-stands to get some of the benefits of partnered sex without it influencing the rest of your life, but you still get frustration from sexual tension between specific people.

Alternately we could take a leaf from bonobos and replace "hello" and "thanks" with sex. If everyone is permanently hovering between afterglow and indiscriminate horniness, nobody has a relative advantage in manipulating or lovebombing (heh) others.

However, most people's solution to the tradeoff between caution ("don't want to ruin our friendship", "don't stick your dick in crazy", and so on) and getting laid doesn't put all the weight on the former.

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 January 2013 08:50:24AM *  -2 points [-]

I meant more in weirdtopian terms than immediate ones. Love as wireheading and so on. It was mostly sarcastic, anyway.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 09 January 2013 02:06:56PM 0 points [-]

Even more convincing in favour of celibacy, which indeed has a long pedigree in many traditions of enlightenment.

Comment author: MugaSofer 10 January 2013 09:47:40AM -2 points [-]

I actually wrote "in favor of celibacy", but decided it wasn't strong enough. Why should I let everyone else get brainwashed and selfishly save only myself?