>But still — in a world which is increasingly isolated and people are more atomized and mentally ill than ever, is it really a good idea to abandon “the family” as it currently exists?

Given the fact that more children than ever are growing up in broken homes or with single parents, I'd say the traditional monogamous family unit is failing, and unless you're willing to go back to the days when women weren't allowed to have real jobs, it's not coming back. Having two parents both work and try to raise kids with no help whatsoever is incredibly stressful, so it's no surprise to me that this whole arrangement is falling apart.

To me, if polyamory were more widely adopted, it would actually be better for a stable society and raising children, because you could have larger family units (I mean with more adults), where the adults would be able to share parenting burdens and finances better, somewhat like the "old days" where extended families resided together and grandparents helped with child-raising.

Of course, the big problem I see here is that it's hard enough to find one compatible person, and trying to put together 3, 4, or 5 people in such an arrangement would be really difficult, but it is my belief that if poly were widely accepted, this might not be quite so difficult because people might have lower expectations of any one partner, and be more willing to compromise and work together. Of course, I could be completely wrong...

But again, it's clear to me that what we're doing now isn't working. And we can't go backwards.