Sex in the Future: Ancient Urges Meet Future Technology

by R.Robin Baker

Robin Baker is one of the people who brought us the notion of kamikaze valiant but impotent swimmers who sacrifice themselves so that one (or more) of their brethren--as opposed to some other guy's sperm--will secure a man's genetic legacy. In Sperm Wars , Baker told us that the evolutionary drive of our biology determined with whom we mated. In Sex in the Future , he speculates on how. Using the same format of fictionalized scenarios followed by more factual discussion, Baker peers into his sociobiological crystal ball to forecast how we might reproduce in the future, and what it will do to our society. Baker sees the multiplication of assisted reproductive technologies as a social revolution. Sex, love, and reproduction will be divorced. The concept of heterosexuality will be practically meaningless. Children will be commissioned in a much more precise way than can now be done either through mate selection or gamete selection. Sex in the Future is certainly provocative. Some of the content is factual, some is plausible speculation, and some is fantastical. This is not a book full of useful information for people trying to conceive. The bibliography is slight, and Baker is something of a black sheep in the scientific community, the martial nature of sperm having been largely discredited ( New Scientist described him as "a sociobiology zealot"). But it certainly is a brave new world of baby-making out there. Might Baker's "Contraceptive Café" and "Reproductive Restaurant" be part of it? You be the judge. --J.R.

Genres: Evolution, Nonfiction, Sexuality, Science

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a disappointment after the wildly entertaining, sexy and informative Sperm Wars. This one just comes across as dull and smutty. Certain passages made me wonder if he hadn't mainly written it to pay the alimony. Or something like that... a constant theme is women who get pregnant and then expect to receive money from the child's father, a subject on which Professor Baker appears to have ambivalent feelings. To be honest, it was a bit creepy.

[Riikka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not about sex, it's about new reproduction techniques. Highly interesting and imaginative, although I don't think the future will be anything near the book describes.