What If All Humans Were Asexual?

WHAT IF

1/31/2024

Why are we so driven by sex?

Transcript

00:00 ♪

00:14 Look at the world around you.

00:16 What do you see?

00:19 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

00:22 But mostly, it's not.

00:25 Why are we so driven by sex?

00:27 Has it always been this way?

00:30 What if we weren't?

00:32 This is WHAT IF,

00:34 and here's what would happen

00:35 if everyone lost their sex drive.

00:39 The idea of a sexless society

00:41 goes back to the Victorian era,

00:43 roughly 150 years ago.

00:46 People still had sex back then,

00:47 but it was almost exclusively for procreation.

00:50 In fact, many believed sex was dangerous,

00:53 capable of causing anything from blindness to cancer.

00:57 But if Victorian-style sexual repression

01:00 bred misinformation,

01:01 it also bred some really strong friendships.

01:04 Sexual repression and rigid gender division

01:07 meant that people of Victorian times

01:09 came to rely on close friends of the same sex

01:12 for their emotional intimacy needs.

01:14 And while friends are great and all,

01:17 a lot has happened since Victoria.

01:20 Would friendship be enough in a sexless tomorrow?

01:24 How many tomorrows would humans have left

01:26 if everyone lost their sex drive?

01:29 Let's make one thing clear right away.

01:31 Even if everyone lost their sex drive,

01:34 people would still have sex.

01:36 You might not enjoy the act itself,

01:38 but even those who don't like sex

01:40 might like the idea of having kids.

01:43 But even then, reproductive technologies

01:45 like artificial insemination

01:47 and in vitro fertilization

01:48 have made it possible to have kids without having sex.

01:52 Nonetheless, the global population

01:54 would start to decline almost immediately.

01:57 Right now, the ratio of births to deaths

02:00 is about 2 to 1 every second.

02:03 So initially, less libido

02:04 could help us bring population growth under control.

02:07 Not only would we curb any threat of overpopulation,

02:10 but we could raise more infants from poverty

02:12 by adopting from developing countries.

02:15 This, in turn, would relieve pressure

02:17 on those countries with fewer resources,

02:19 allowing them to offer their current citizens

02:22 a better quality of life.

02:24 But what if people still wanted to have children

02:26 with their own genes?

02:28 Well, they still could.

02:30 The in vitro fertilization industry

02:32 is projected to be worth $36 billion by 2026,

02:36 and that's just one method of reproductive technology.

02:39 There's no doubt that more tech would emerge

02:41 to make it easier for humanity to continue,

02:44 with or without sex.

02:46 But how would our society change?

02:48 Well, as Victorian-era life shows,

02:50 sexual repression doesn't repress our emotional needs.

02:53 So how would our relationships change?

02:56 I guess you could say goodbye to awkward dates.

03:00 Would we just become one big community of friends?

03:04 Would children be raised by groups of like-minded people

03:07 instead of the conventional family unit?

03:10 Two things are certain.

03:11 Slower population growth

03:12 would be better for the natural environment.

03:14 But dare I say that without sex drive,

03:17 the world would be less fun?

03:19 Well, we'll leave that up to you.

03:21 But whether you prefer to be turned off or turned on,

03:24 just be sure to tune in for another WHAT IF.

03:28 (upbeat music)

03:31 (upbeat music)

What If All Humans Were Asexual?

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