Zachary429 wakes up every morning at exactly 08:42:00. That gives him precisely three minutes to get dressed and be seated in time for the 08:45:00 meal. Plenty of time.

Habitually, he punches the code that opens his wardrobe, searches for the correct day and date, and presses the corresponding button that will activate the delivery chute. He can hear the soft hissing within the pneumatic tube, announcing the arrival of his garment. Seeing a flash of blue in the tube, he mumbles cynically, “Ah, yes. Blue again. Fantastic...” He opens up the hatch at the end of the tube and begins dressing.

08:43:30. Zachary429, now dressed in a soft blue Kamrobe (“the most comfortable and practical garment known to man,” according to the latest advertisement), slumbers over to his hygiene station. He steps inside and closes the door behind him, and places his hands inside the small round openings marked RIGHT and LEFT, respectively. At the same time, he carefully inserts his head into the hole designed exclusively for his skull and facial features, making sure to avoid getting the collar flap of his Kamrobe stuck inside the rubber seal. (He has done that twice already this year, both times having to return the wet garment to its place in the wardrobe, request and don a fresh one, and subsequently miss the morning meal. The Department of Human Efficiency is not currently happy with Zachary429.) As the vacuum causes the rubber seal to tighten around his neck, the cleaning process begins.

His hands are doused with an antiseptic liquid that dries instantly. They are then sprayed with a stato-magnetic discharge repellent that will keep his hands free from airborne particles for the next 24 hours. His eyelids are carefully spread apart with mechanized rubber tongs and washed and rinsed with saline. A laser optic scanner then reads the surface of Zachary429’s cornea, reading for scratches and/or foreign debris. This same scanner then takes a topographical map of his retina, gauging and measuring his vision. Should Zachary429’s vision be less than perfect, he will be immediately referred to the Department of Optical Efficiency to correct the problem or issue new organs, whichever is deemed more appropriate. While his hair is being treated with a moisturizing, follicle-massaging anti-biotic cleanser, his teeth are cleaned and X-rayed. After being prompted to close his mouth, his face is then washed with an astringent, antiseptic gel. Finally, a combination of ultraviolet rays and microwave heat dries his face, hair and neck, after which Zachary429 is alerted to the fact that he has been hygienically approved.

08:44:41. Zachary429 steps out of his hygiene station, turns, and sits down facing the meal delivery hatch. He is reaching for the READY button, but his finger hesitates, resting against the switch without pressing it. He looks again at the clock above the door. “19 seconds...18 seconds...PLENTY of time!”

Excited, he jumps up from the stool, leaps across his room to the cabinet where he keeps his SymEneX module, pulls it out and lays down on his bed. One last glance at the clock: 08:44:46. He smiles, clamps on the sensory nodes, puts the headphones on and places the visor over his eyes. The familiar SymEneX menu is now before him, and he scrolls quickly through it, selecting female parts as he goes along. Finally, he sets the duration for 10 seconds and selects PLAY. And the fun begins.

Lying on his back, his smile quickly becomes a grin. For the next ten seconds, Zachary429 is in a different place. He is in an erotic world of cyberSEX, utilizing his free time, or his free seconds, rather, to fulfill his sexual desires. The technological advancements that bathe him, dress him and feed him in the morning are the same advancements that are now allowing him to have sex before breakfast.

At 08:44:56, Zachary429 will come back from this other place, quickly put his SymEneX module away, sit down at the meal delivery hatch, and press the READY button. He will eat his savory French toast with poached eggs, and wash it down with a multi-vitamin protein supplement. At 08:49:00, he will step through the door of his dwelling and directly onto the magnetrain that will carry him to the office. He will work a 12-hour workday alongside co-workers of the male and female persuasion, never having any impure thoughts or romantic notions. Another day, another monetary unit.

The year is 2574. Sex is inefficient. Romance is dead.

All right, all right, hold on a second here. Slow down, there, cowboy. What on earth kind of futuristic view of life is that? That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it? Okay, the clothing tube thing and the hygiene station I might go for, but the super hi-fi sex simulating device? No way, kiddo. Not a chance. Human beings can’t exist without having sex. That’s for sure. When it all boils down, the notion that we are heading towards a more asexual society is totally absurd.

Or is it?

We live in a very SEX oriented society. Sex is sexy, after all. Sex is used to sell cereal. There is an ad on television, for example (I will save the brand the embarrassment and not mention Kellogg’s name), where a half-naked woman gets dressed in a bathrobe after a few laps in her indoor pool and heads straight for the Special K. Does she need to be half-naked? Probably not. But the marketing people have discovered (after lengthy meetings in conference rooms with huge oak tables and cigar smoke in the air) that the people would rather see a little leg than a CT Scan of a colon before and after Special K. Go figure.

With all this sex everywhere, it’s no wonder that not wanting it, not liking it, and plain old just not having it can create such a fuss. Yet the number of individuals who call themselves asexuals appears to be rising rapidly. Is it? Probably not. As long as people have been having sex, people have been not having sex. But thanks to the internet, chat rooms and websites catering to this sexual orientation are popping up all over, giving a once “taboo” topic a place to live and thrive.

Asexuality. What a daunting word. Capturing the essence of its meaning is difficult, because its spectrum of definition is so broad. Basically, ‘asexuals’ could possibly agree on this: asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction and the absence of a desire to form physical sexual relationships. (It also obviously applies to the physical absence of sex organs, but that’s ‘something else’--not the subject matter of this particular discussion.) But beyond that, asexuality is open for interpretation. And since there are such differing degrees of heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality, it makes perfect sense that asexuality should consist of varying degrees as well. Some asexual people want to have children, some don’t. Some experience sexual drive, some don’t. Some have sexual fantasies, some don’t. Some masturbate, some don’t. The list goes on and on.

Come to think of it, why would a person want to have sex anyhow? If its biological purpose is procreation, it’s fair to say that there’s a bit more emotional involvement at this stage in the game. A simple act of sex can turn a bachelor into a groom overnight. The emotional implications in combination with the ever-increasing risk of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can render sex as rather inefficient and cumbersome with respect to baby-making. Given that, if you’re ‘doing it’ for other reasons, a brief encounter in the sack can lead to a sometimes less than desirable lifestyle change; a tendency towards asexuality is therefore quite comprehensible.

So let’s have another look at the world of Zachary90210 or whatever his name is. While this futuristic outlook may seem a bit extreme, Zachary obviously lives in a world where efficiency reigns supreme. (There’s a little rhyme for you.) Additionally, for whatever reasons, the society around him has deemed sex to be unnecessary and impractical. While we don’t know exactly how reproduction occurs in this world, we might imagine that it involves very medical techniques of gathering sperm and eggs and producing embryos in pristine laboratories. But Zachary429 still has sexual desires. Does this disqualify him from being asexual? Hardly. In fact, this is an issue that has apparently led to the development of the so-called SymEneX module! And this allows individuals like Zachary429 the opportunity to get their thrills. In ten seconds, no less.

Is that the direction society is heading, then? Are our children destined for lives that are completely void of sexual relationships? Not necessarily. But it’s possible. In many ways, in fact, we are already there. Cloning, while controversial, is being studied and is taking place all over the world. Also, an enormous fertilization industry exists, allowing men and women to pursue parenthood through the latest advances in medicine.

Science aside, the desires of men and women are changing rapidly. Many women are making the choice to pursue careers instead of sexual relationships. Those who are adamant about this, but still feel the need to raise children are doing so with the help of invetro-fertilization and surrogate mothers. Many men have adopted misogynistic attitudes and can’t stand the thought of assuming parental roles at all. Former stereotypical standards of success (house, family, white picket fence) are becoming less and less attractive to both genders.

Pornography has also served to assist men and women who desire sexual stimulation, but are weary of or incapable of pursuing sex. It’s fair to say that an individual’s sudden thirst for passion can often be quenched with a little masturbation. This ‘fix’ is quite efficient as well: it can be obtained without any small talk, without any lengthy candlelight dinners, without any unneeded embarrassment, and all in the comfort of home-sweet-home.

Perhaps the concept of asexuality in human beings is evolutionary. Heck, why not? As organisms, we change and adapt to our surroundings. When those surroundings are under-populated or have high death rates, it obviously becomes necessary to be more sexually active. But what happens when an environment becomes over-populated, when its members begin living exceptionally long lives? One might assume that the gene pool of said community undergoes derivations that ultimately alter and reduce sexual attraction, leading to a more asexual society.

The concept of asexuality isn’t really that hard to grasp. As man has evolved, so have his sexual tendencies. Or lack of sexual tendencies, as the case may be. The causes are varied and for some, it is more of a lifestyle choice than it is for others. While our great, great grandchildren (those of us who are having them) may not ever have to rely on the SymEneX module to have sex, it’s a safe bet that asexual lifestyles will continue to thrive and play an important role in society in the future.

While I am currently enveloped in the roller coaster ride of my own sexual relationship, I can’t help but view asexuality in a whole new light now. Frankly, it doesn’t really sound like such a bad thing. Just don’t tell the wife that.