Why are we so driven by sex?
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TVTranscript
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)