It sounds like this scientist-turned-famous-author was more interested in selling books than in exploring new perspectives. More interested in prolonging the status quo than in addressing the ways the machine is breaking down, with more and more people getting ground up in its failing gears.

I am poly-curious--openminded but (at nearly 70) not expecting to learn except vicariously. I respect the version of polyamory you describe in your writings, because unlike the hook-up culture it does not remove love from the sexual equation. (I wrote about that recently.)

Modern marriage, with its permanent commitment to the nuclear family, seems to me inherently unstable and almost certain to cause burnout in people who aren't rich enough to hire a lot of help. If marriage is to persist into the next century, it must change dramatically and structurally, probably by incorporating time-limited contracts and expanding to larger groups, even multi-generational groups that can support one another as well as providing constant care for children.