That is partialy true. A injured female animal even tho in heat will reject all males tell she is healthy again, so there has to be some sort of mental thought process
I do agree that humans are choosing to not produce as much as previous generations. And that is contributed to our survival instinct, because an over crowded earth means less supplies to go around. Yes humans are going against their reproductive instinct in this decision, but at the same time they are following their survival instinct.
Humans make a lot of choices that aren't based entirely on instinct. If someone decides they don't want children, it could simply be because they don't like kids. Now, fair enough, you could say that their instinctual nature is telling them they'd suck at parenting, so having children would not be a wise decision, but I think a lot of our choices regarding reproduction are purely selfish ones that have nothing to do with instinct.
That doesn't make logical sense. If this were true, then once humans were past the age to have children, they would turn into sociopaths? Or people who choose not to have children are sociopaths?
Umm - actually I lived a life around the music industry, where people didn't have children (into their 40s) as that was their lifestyle choice. While I would say that they lacked in empathy and were more selfish, I wouldn't say that they were all sociopaths. Not classic textbook sociopath anyway. They might not have had children and chose a different life, but they didn't go around telling lies, and causing disruption.
So no, I don't think there is a correlation. Otherwise we would have an elderly population who are all sociopaths?
Interesting premise...
But I don't believe the will to reproduce has anything to do with love. The desire to fuck is a drive rewarded and reinforced through the operant conditioning of pleasure.
While I agree that the will to survive (and thrive) is a strong force in producing selfish, cunning, manipulative, dominant and heartless behavior. (though that is a gross over-simplification it does contribute)
I would disagree with your second statement and argue instead that the will for social bonding as produced through oxytocin and the mirror neuron system is the basis of love, protecting others, sacrificing, and caring.
The concept of putting ourselves in the shoes of others somehow connects us with them and their plight in life. This sort of resonance makes us them to some extent in our perception, and to that end makes us want to protect and care for them as we would ourselves. That is the basis of love for others (love of self).
This theory was actually based off of an article I read about love and the hormones connected to them. As you see in the wild, animals do not form the long term social bonds that humans do because they do not need to. The offspring they produce grows up relatively fast. Human offspring on the other hand requires much more time to raise, and a strong emotion bond to another person is essential in successfully raising a child. I do agree that humans have the ability to overcomplicate love, to be more than just a reproductive instinctive act.