Why do we want partners?

Possibly one of the most hardest questions to ask yourself. This question will take a while to read, but hang tight, it's one worth asking. A bit of back-story first. One of my closest friends is far from unhappy, he's not necessarily insanely smart, but he is very inquisitive, always asking questions about philosophy, life etc (think of V from V for Vendetta, and you'll have a pretty good idea on his intellect). However, he is asexual and has been since his very late teens. He has had girlfriends before, but after university he eventually stopped meeting up with girls, I thought nothing much of it at the time. One day we met up after I had been away for awhile and asked how his life has been going, he said great, I won't add too many life details but it was good. I had a girlfriend at the time and when I asked him if he had had any luck, he simply smiled, shook his head and said no, and that he didn't want to be in a relationship at all, as well as the fact he was asexual. I asked him why? And so begins a big turning point, he began to turn it around asking me why I choose to have a girlfriend. To be honest, I didn't actually know why. I thought about for a good minute or two and told him; I guess I want somebody to be with, for company, to connect with, to not feel lonely, to have something good in life, to give back, hell I even went as far to say it's in our DNA. Then this huge wall of answers came... He countered each one of my answers with incredible detail. His response was long, so I have paraphrased it. He said, nearly all of us have girlfriends, some we connect with and some we don't, we fight and we break up, and when that happens you end up being more depressed than you would have had you not have had a girlfriend, I countered saying "that is experience", he said maybe but to let him finish. He said the general population need people to connect with because they have been told that having a partner is the right thing to do, and pointed out had a child not been told anything about relationships, would he want one? What about children of divorced parents, how they hate relationships for the most part, or have trust issues. He said that for general people, a partner works out fine, but he said I and he were not general, we were aware of ourselves and we find our own enjoyment, why should we spend our time, money and effort to give to someone who could betray you, not challenge you, not love you, hell even just not excite you, he inferred that relationships are selfish, 'giving' things to someone in order to expect something in return, I argued couldn't you do nice things just because you can or out of love? He answered yes, but you can do that to any stranger, friend or family member. He said he wanted to be responsible for his own happiness, (I think he has a tiny bit of superiority complex), and that humanity has already evolved beyond having to abide by their 'instincts' (DNA). He also added how the idea of sex has been blown completely out of proportion, he said that both men and women are either dissatisfied with sex/ or simply do it as a matter of biology and that masturbation offers better satisfaction, and obviously less effort and less likely to end badly in any way conceivable, thereby making it a more logical choice over sex. On a very rare basis do both p arties enjoy sex for other reasons, further stating that the concept of love has also been created by humans desperate to add meaning to their life when in actuality, it is the mere result of a chemical reaction. The need for children was briefly talked on but he simply stated the obviousness of not having any, money, time, education etc. I asked him does he feel lonely, he said no, he simply 'is/ was/ am'. He would still exist tomorrow and the next month as he does today, and if he were to die at any moment he would feel nothing (as his brain activity would cease as he put it). He said he didn't want to offend, that this was his choice and that if his friend was happy, that's all that mattered. But since this discussion I have begun questioning these things myself. My question to everyone out there is this: Why do you want/ we need partners? What is the point of it all, are we so naive to accept life is finite and to do it just because, could we not better ourselves and rise above social conventions? Please answer, I am very interested in everyone's answers. Peace out Lewis p.s. Please don't waste time saying it's me and not my friend who said this, this is real. We are still as good a friends as we ever were.

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