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[–]Amanda 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

"most other living things" should be changed to most Eukarya (on Earth, we have 3 other types of life: Bacteria, Archaea, and Viruses). The binary sex system was evolved in Eukarya, most likely as a means to keep their endosymbionts from becoming parasitic. This works, because only one sex contributes the endosymbiont to the offspring and if that endosymbiont doesn't work, then the offspring in not viable, so only functioning endosymbionts get passed on.

[–]FourteenDigitz 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Also because asexual reproduction directly leads to problems from a lack of genetic diversity, e.g. entire communities being at risk of eradication from disease because they all have the same genetic makeup