Men like boobs. But there is no particular reason for them to like them, except that large boobs might be better able to feed kids
Sounds like a particular reason to me.
I don't think that men, looking at Playboy magazines are thinking that the pictures will allow them to make more or better babies
But their instincts do.
Man sees beautiful woman, and his biology responds accordingly.
All this is subconscious and ultimately driven by evolution. Evolution favors behaviors that will promote procreation. Sexual arousal leads to wanting to have sex which leads to babies.
When some player tries to hit on a woman at a bar to score a one-night stand - babies are the last thing that he consciously wants to result from it. He just wants to have fun / sex.
But the very behavior is, at bottom, nonetheless driven by evolution favoring behavior that leads to babies and thus survival and continuation of the species
Rather, I think that instincts are programmed into men (and all animals) that promote their willingness to have sex to perpetuate the species.
Indeed. By evolution.
Similarly, some (but not all) women want to have babies. But babies notoriously are poop machines that require maintenance in the middle of the night. Surely, if there wasn't an instinct to nurture a baby, the little poop machine would be tossed out the nearest window.
More then that even. Women will typically tolerate a lot more nastiness from their own off spring then from the off spring of others.
This example is anecdotal (and disgusting
) off course, but I remember when our son was sick one day and he vomited all over the place. Including his mothers face and in her mouth. She didn't even flinch. I think she even swallowed some of it by accident. All she could think about was first taking care of the kid and then cleaning it up.
Then at another time, our son's cousin, who had the same age, vomited as well. Several meters away from my wife. It wasn't even as nasty as the vomit of our son, but my wife had to run to the bathroom and vomit herself, simply because off the sight / smell of it.
Such things also are the result of evolution pushing towards survival of the species and success in procreation and continuation.
However, I don't think that the meaning of life is procreation. It is, rather, a programmed desire, but not the meaning of life.
I agree.
I don't think there is such a thing as a "cosmic" meaning or purpose for life.
I see no reason to believe there is.
People don't spend their entire existence procreating, otherwise, no one would be writing in this forum. Most people spend time enjoying life, and procreation is something that they do on the side.
Disagree with this.
When you dig deep into the psychological side of things, almost all we do is geared towards finding / keeping a mate or to impress potential mates etc. Even when there is nobody around.
Whenever we try to have success in anything, be a winner, be a leader, gather wealth, etc... all of it is geared towards upping our chances to find a mate. Even if we are infertile. Even if we are gay.
Almost everything in our biology is geared towards it. Survive and reproduce. There is no escaping this.
And it's not just for our own off spring either. It's also for the benefit of the group, for the continuation of the species as a whole. That's basically what altruism is.
Some people cannot procreate, but it doesn't mean that their lives are over. Some are too old to want to procreate, but they enjoy old age with chess games, watching TV, or maybe even getting intimate with a significant other. But procreation is not the central issue on their minds.
True, it's not on their conscious minds. But the psychology of the behavior reveals otherwise.
A player looking for a one night stand doesn't want pregnancy as a result. He just wants to enjoy good sex.
But what drives his biological need for sex? Why is sex enjoyable? Why did evolution mold it like that?
Exactly.
