SchrodingersCat
Active member
Do you believe the tendency to be polyamorous or monogamous wired or conditioned? I don't presume that we're going to solve the scientific debate here, but I'm curious to learn what other people think.
The other thread about mono/poly wiring got me thinking about this, but that thread didn't really address the question.
For the purpose of this discussion, I'd like to use the "nature/nurture" definition of "wired" ... i.e. that it refers to a person's nature as opposed to the "wiring" that results from synapses forming as a reaction to stimulus.
I personally believe that being monogamous or being polyamorous is fundamentally wired.
I do believe that a lot of people who are naturally poly are conditioned into believing that they must live monogamously.
One thing that strikes me is the double standard indicated by Mono's comment, and I wonder how many other people have encountered this pattern:
I offer the premise that one tendency is wired if and only if the other is also wired (i.e. you couldn't say "poly is wired but mono is conditioned").
If we're going to say that neither is wired, then it raises the question, how did we all get to be poly when we were all conditioned in the same monogamous western culture?
The other thread about mono/poly wiring got me thinking about this, but that thread didn't really address the question.
For the purpose of this discussion, I'd like to use the "nature/nurture" definition of "wired" ... i.e. that it refers to a person's nature as opposed to the "wiring" that results from synapses forming as a reaction to stimulus.
I personally believe that being monogamous or being polyamorous is fundamentally wired.
I do believe that a lot of people who are naturally poly are conditioned into believing that they must live monogamously.
One thing that strikes me is the double standard indicated by Mono's comment, and I wonder how many other people have encountered this pattern:
I find it interesting that a mono person can accept the concept of poly wiring so easily but that so many poly people I know cannot accept mono wiring.
I offer the premise that one tendency is wired if and only if the other is also wired (i.e. you couldn't say "poly is wired but mono is conditioned").
If we're going to say that neither is wired, then it raises the question, how did we all get to be poly when we were all conditioned in the same monogamous western culture?