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Originally posted by BlueBomber:
I was watching "Heart of Gold" last week with some buddies when this came up.

In the scene where Mal is looking at Nandi's guns she asks if he's "sly," to which he responds "Sly? No, I lean towards womenfolk." The script refers to Mal as being "totally comfortable with the question." Also, in "War Stories" we see that although Inara's clientel is mostly male, she is known to service female clients.

So the ensuing discussion was about sexuality in the future. In these particular cases it seems almost a non-issue, but you gotta wonder how tolerant a society that would still go medieval and burn a girl at the stake really is.

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Outside of these episodes, I'm not sure how much sci-fi deals with homosexuality 500 years or so from now. Can y'all think of any other examples? And what are your thoughts?

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
After all, sex is smelly, disgusting and degrading...and that's only when its' done right.

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
The distant future of sexuality is no sexuality, or asexuality. I can envision a future society where the very thought of physical contact with another person, or either gender, is totally replusive.

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Written SF is more likely to deal with sexuality (of the types we would call alternative or otherwise) than the screen variety. Mostly because of the lack of a rating's board I suspect.

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Originally posted by reginaroadie:
What I'm more interested in is interspecies relations. In STAR TREK you have all these, for lack of a better term, halflings. But by the time we're seeing it, the idea of interspecies couples have already been around and accepted. I'd like to see an alien version of GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER that really probes the notion of "Mom, Dad, this is my boy/girlfriend. He/she's a Martian/Klingon."

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Originally posted by reginaroadie:
OK, so maybe I didn't put too much thought into it.

I'm just saying that if we're imagining a future where it doesn't matter if we're gay or straight, why not imagine a future where we have to stay in our own species to fall in love and find a mate to be with.

And there's a difference between getting it on with a species that has pretty much the same physiology as we do but maybe has a bumpy forehead or a ridged nose, and getting it on with a green tentacled BEM (that's bug eyed monster for those unfamiliar).

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
I want clean sex, like in Demolition Man!

Fluids-free Chrisisall

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Originally posted by reginaroadie:
You're grasping at straws there. The "deck of cards" is separate from the "man parts" bit.

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"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

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Originally posted by rallem:
How do you figure the deck of cards and man parts are seperate?

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
I also remember the Orgasmitron used frequently in Sleeper. And the "orb". Looked like paradise to me until Miles came along and started a revolution.

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Originally posted by citizen:

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Originally posted by rallem:
How do you figure the deck of cards and man parts are seperate?

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Man, I thought you were joking.

He's about whack his man hood out to prove he's a guy, then when Simon admonish him he says he was going to leave them a deck of cards (to, you know pass the time) but now he's not. You're reading WAY to much into it.

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More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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I simply saw this differently. It looked to me that Jayne began reaching in his pants and after the Doctor's condemnation he pulled the deck of cards out and said he was going to give her some cards.

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Originally posted by chrisisall:
I want clean sex, like in Demolition Man!

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Originally posted by BrowncoatSandinista:
As far as Aliens in the Future - I think there's other life out there, but given the vasty expanse that is "out there" there's no guarantee that we'll be making contact any time soon.

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And I see no reason why Aliens couldn't be similar to us. If they have a similar environment to evolve in ((Or a similarly minded creation being, if you're so inclined [[what poor poor people you are]])) then they could very well end up looking very much like us. That's because our morphology has to make sense, or else we wouldn't be dominant.

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The other issue with the above is the fact that aliens are statistically as likely or more likely not to have a similar number of chromosomes, a similar basic genetic unit, or even a similar way of expressing these genetic units phenotypically ((Is that a word? It is now.)). There is no law in physics that says all genes in all organisms must consist of nucleic acids which code for proteins.

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For all we know, other species on other worlds may use radon-francium-boride molecules as their basic genetic unit, coding for lithium-hydrogen-titaniumite molecules instead of proteins. We just don't know.

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Back to the purpose of the thread - I don't think that there would be any reason for all of humanity to become bisexual in the future, if the future is like Firefly. Let me explain. I believe that homosexuality is a branch of evolution effected by environmental signals, meant unlike other mutations, to curb population growth to a manageable level. If we don't have overpopulation issues ((Which, given our ability to terraform in the 'verse, seems unlikely to be an issue)) then the incidence of Homosexuality would go down. Granted, I don't think that societies view of homosexuality will remain as it does ((We do seem to be growing more tolerant)) but genetically we may not be so predisposed to it. That said, it does seem that in society, bisexuality ((At least in women)) is becoming an attractive trait to heterosexual ((And therefore propogation-inclined)) males, which could by simple genetics increase its rate of incidence.

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Originally posted by BrowncoatSandinista:
First of all, the Meat story is hilarious, and I am in the process of disseminating it to many of my friends ((Not to the ones who wouldn't get it mind.)).

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The same goes for the variability of species evolving on different worlds. We don't really know what the affect of a slight change in environment on the development of a species ((We've not been around long enough)), so we don't know how unlikely another species similar enough to be considered the same would be ((Though we can and do agree that the likelihood is astronomical)).

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Also, we don't know the 'half life', if you will, for sapient species capable of contact with us, so 9.134 thousand years may not be that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

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Your knowledge of different possible molecular basses for life at various temperatures easily surpasses mine ((What biology I've had has not included Xenobiology in any form.)), though the Fluorocarbons in Molten Sulfur's ideal temperature range certainly intrigues me.

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((Aside: I like to dream up alien life forms in my spare time. One of my current roster of species uses hydrogen in water and oxygen instead of Adenosine Triphosphate, and fuses excess hydrogen into helium for warmth and energy with a sort of 'lukewarm fusion reactor', and it also has a Cermet Skeleton. The temperature range therein described could make for some hardy beings, as far as what temperature their environment can attain.))

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You are correct about the benefit of having a non-breeding pair acting as parents in lieu of only breeding pairs parenting. This is well documented in Black Swans.

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Finally, I'd like to ask what you do Citizen? You seem to be well educated and well read on a number of topics, and I'd like to know what kind of person has all of this knowledge ((And then, by extension, how do I gain it myself and take over the world?))

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Originally posted by BrowncoatSandinista:
Not to totally change the subject, but what do you think of the Anthropic Principle? I think that its looking entirely in the wrong direction, kind of like earth-centric views of the universe. That is to say, the Universe is not fine tuned to us, we are fine tuned to the Universe.

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Originally posted by BrowncoatSandinista:
I'm not so familiar with the differences between the weak and strong versions, would you be so kind to educate me? I ran into it recently when talking to a group of students from a Christian college who were attempting to get me to agree that, correct or not, Intelligent Design is a valid Scientific Theory.

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I think in terms of human sexuality in the future, I think eventually it'll become a non-issue. That the line between hetero and homosexuality will get so blurry that it'll just be a blot. And that no one would raise an eyebrow if some macho guy sleeps around with both women and men. Maybe not for a few hundred years or so. But we will become an enlightened race in terms of our sexuality.

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