Mar 9, 2011 -- 6:57AM, costrel wrote:

Mar 9, 2011 -- 2:43AM, CharikIeia wrote:

It's a matter of education, in the first place.

“An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.”
-- Aldous Huxley

Or it is a matter of religious or philosophical indoctrination. Huxley seems to have bought into that European Christian garbage that an intellectual -- like a mystic -- should be a celibate solitary rather than a "family man" or a "family woman," which we also see perpetuated in the United States in writers such as Emerson and Thoreau. As some of my friends liked to point out in college, even great men like Karl Marx and Gandhi were married with children (but then, so too was Huxley). A great thinker doesn't have to be celibate and single like Jesus, Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, or Emily Bronte, nor does a great thinker have to abandon spouse and child like the Buddha did.

Nations with high general education have lower birth rates (and I'd guess: also lower sex rates) than lowly educated nations, where populations explode.

Or better birth control and more recreational (rather than procreational) sex.

No you don't have to be celebate to be a spiritual mountain but I do think that a certain percentage of our population is more geared to celebacy.  They might even want sex but not enough to be motivated ot make it happen. 

I also think for people who want to "devote" their lives you soemtimes think you should eschew romantic entaglements.  Much like Queen Victoria.    This is why Fidel Castro tries to pretend to be a non family man and devoted to his cuba and his cuba alone.  But in reality he does have a spouse and they have about 5 sons.  He never has admited to this .
I can see where a nun or somebody like that would be more free "to serve" unencumbered by familial or spousal obligations. 

Sex is probably easier to come by than money, so it makes sense that it is not as valued. At least on a poll. 

Hrm ... I'd have to say yes, money is better than sex.

Money doesn't generally transmit any diseases worse than a cold or flu.

I've never had any cause to regret afterwards getting some money.

If you offer someone sufficient money in return for something valuable, they rarely laugh in your face.

Money doesn't generally come with a bunch of unhealthy emotional baggage.

Money doesn't risk eighteen or so years of loss of freedom unless you're *really* stupid in how you choose to get your money.

When you have more money than you need immediately, people don't mind if you put the extra aside and get it later whenever you wish.

Money is less messy, and rarely needs lubricants ... and a single wallet can be reused to contain and protect your money for years and years.

(There are some areas where the calculus of money-vs.-sex is a bit more even.  Both, for example, are bad reasons to get married, and being drunk when you plan out how to get either of them is a bad idea.  And, of course, it's socially unacceptable to ask for either from a stranger, and you're likely to regret any lifestyle that focuses on asking people for either for a living.)

No money, No honey......