[비즈한국] Today, 40% of adults in developed countries are neither married nor living with a romantic partner. It is estimated that 20–25% of Millennials will never marry, and this percentage is expected to be even higher among Gen Z. In South Korea, 36–40% of married couples are in so-called “sexless” marriages. Amidst the flood of busy schedules, stress, and digital alternatives, humanity is gradually emptying its bedrooms.
However, interestingly, the most powerful driving force that allowed humanity to exist today is none other than sex. Humanity secured genetic diversity and evolved dynamically through sexual union. Now, as we face the quietest “sexual stagnation” in human history, David Baker’s new book, 'The Shortest History of Sex,' which tracks the chronicle of sex from an evolutionary biological perspective, follows why we are designed to love and desire.
Pleasure and Survival: A 2-Billion-Year Evolutionary Chronicle
Beyond simple sexual gossip or cultural history, this book covers 2 billion years of 'Big History,' starting from the birth of the universe and the early days of cell division. The author presents the surprising argument that living organisms have evolved not just in ways favorable to survival, but in ways that allow them to 'experience pleasure.'
As gender differentiated from the asexual reproduction of the primordial era, living organisms gained a powerful weapon called genetic diversity, and the speed of evolution accelerated explosively. From primates to humans, sex has become more than just a reproductive act; it has established itself as a key mechanism for forming alliances, resolving conflicts, and strengthening social bonds. In other words, the human body and mind are the result of being intricately crafted around sexual desire and pleasure.
What is the Future of Humanity That Has Left the Bedroom?
Where is the future of humanity heading, having reached a sexless state that makes evolution seem meaningless? The author suggests that the modern sexless trend could be a unique inflection point in the flow of human evolution. Following the development of contraceptive technology that perfectly separated reproduction from pleasure, an era has arrived where technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) are replacing instincts.
Humanity is defying the evolutionary programming accumulated over a long time and exploring new forms of coexistence and reproduction. Ultimately, this book leaves a heavy forecast that the modern sexless phenomenon may not be a regression of humanity, but the prelude to another evolution created by the collision between technological civilization and human instinct.
The author, David Baker, is the first person in the world to receive a PhD in Big History. 'Big History' is a discipline that explains everything from the Big Bang to the formation of the Earth, the emergence of life, and human history as one grand story through the integration of natural science and humanities, and Baker became a bestseller with his previous work, 'The Shortest History of the Universe.'