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0 pointssridca6y ago0 comments

The difference between a need and a desire is not a minor detail (which is what the word pedantry would indicate). Let me explain it for you.

    need /nēd/ 
    circumstances in which something is necessary, or that require some course of action; necessity.

    de·sire /dəˈzī(ə)r/ 
    a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.

The very first thing to do is separate out needs from urges (desires): unless one is living as a hermit off nuts and berries deep in a remote forest one needs one’s fellow human beings for a whole raft of things (I need a shopkeeper to sell me goods as much as a shopkeeper needs me to sell goods to for example) and the most fundamental needs amount to five survival essentials ... air, water, food, shelter (if protection be necessary), and clothing (if the weather be inclement).

The fact that you fail to thoroughly appreciate this makes it unsurprising that you bizarrely place the condition of not engaging in sexual acts (an act of desire) with your fellow human beings to be nearly on the same level as living without being in contact (an act of need) with them.

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zzetsumei6y ago

I'm no wordsmith but isn't it instinctual for humans to want to reproduce? The testosterone level in men are far greater than in women. I would say it's a biological "curse" but also a necessity for the continuation of the human race. It'd be wonderful if you could just train yourself to ignore the testosterone impulses nagging for a release but it seems impossible to me.

Speaking as a male in his late 20s, I've got fulfilling hobbies such as working on my car, biking, exercising and programming with friends. However none of those scratch the biological itch to have physical intimacy. I am actually quite offended you'd ask of me to deny my desires and to call me selfish for wanting to to pursue what is ingrained biologically in me. There is nothing to be gained from setting my bar low for what I want in life.

sridcaOP6y ago

You'd be amazed how much of this so-called "biological curse" is software-based rather than hardware-based -- have you ever found yourself in the psychological state called "flow" where you momentarily forget about the rest of the world (including the much-cherished sexual desire)?

The human race, if it wants itself to continue, will make that decision just fine using its thinking brain (we are evolved enough to no longer need to rely on instinctual desires for the continuation of species; if anything it only gets in the way--just look at all the wars and suicides and murders and so on).

And no one here said anything about denying a feeling. Your offense is triggered by something you seemed to have imagined. Is sexual desire the new religion? Is questioning the validity of it to be automatically taken as an act of blasphemy?

By the way, aggression is "biological curse" too. So why are we not equally going about killing others and rationalizing it in a similar manner?

zzetsumei6y ago

Is there something wrong with wanting physical intimacy, sex, procreation?

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0 pointssridca6y ago0 comments

The difference between a need and a desire is not a minor detail (which is what the word pedantry would indicate). Let me explain it for you.

    need /nēd/ 
    circumstances in which something is necessary, or that require some course of action; necessity.

    de·sire /dəˈzī(ə)r/ 
    a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.

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zzetsumei6y ago

sridcaOP6y ago

By the way, aggression is "biological curse" too. So why are we not equally going about killing others and rationalizing it in a similar manner?

zzetsumei6y ago

Is there something wrong with wanting physical intimacy, sex, procreation?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse