William Patrick > Quotes

“Among Norway rats, males ejaculate more sperm when copulating in the presence of male rivals, seemingly because the competition to reproduce persists all the way up the fallopian tube to the surface of the egg. For the same reason, an ape’s testicles are proportionate to the size of the male breeding pool. The male chimpanzee, surrounded by ruthless competition, has reproductive equipment that is truly prodigious, while the gorilla, living with a harem as the only male, has nothing to brag about. The evolutionary reason: A male without rivals needs no special adaptations to increase his odds of becoming a father.
Once again, the social and the physiological cannot be separated any more than we can separate the length from the width of a rectangle.”
― William Patrick, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection

“continuous nights from dusk to dawn! The ardor that Hera demonstrated for copulation was responded to in kind by Michael. His youthfulness, vitality and strong libido were thoroughly tested, and he passed. When the normal seven-day procreation period reached its end, Hera was completely sated and ready to give Michael up. If a pregnancy did not result, then another seven-day period would be assigned later. During the seven nights, Michael realized that he had connected with Hera in more than just a carnal fashion. They had become joined in other ways too. He wouldn’t have said that he had fallen in love with her, but he would agree that he had developed tender feelings that he did not have before. He sensed that Hera felt much the same. After a fashion she had fallen in love with him. Then her logic and sense entered into the equation and she reasoned that a true romantic relationship was not workable. There were just too many differences between them in terms of age, experience, and their stations in life. She would have had to give him up even if she hadn’t wanted to. The Procreation Duty with Hera had triggered one more important event. Michael and Athena’s love and attraction for one another had been brought out into the open. It was another aspect of the Procreation Directive that Michael struggled with. Yet, Athena seemed to be just fine with the matter. They had shared their first intimacy together. Then they had been forced to be apart while Michael was required to inseminate Athena’s own Mother for six full nights. The moral and ethical conflict it”
― William Patrick, Perpetual Wars - Special Relativity Series: Love and Loss