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May 29, 2006

Coke habits of lovers

It seems that I have over 40 entries in Draft status that I never got around to finishing. I'll see if I can fix this. The first, from March 28, 2004, is about what I call the coke habits of lovers. This article suggests that when people fall in love, the feeling is similar to the high you get through cocaine or other illicit drugs. Observe. Or rather, read:

Parts of the brain that are love-bitten include the one responsible for gut feelings, and the ones which generate the euphoria induced by drugs such as cocaine. So the brains of people deeply in love do not look like those of people experiencing strong emotions, but instead like those of people snorting coke. Love, in other words, uses the neural mechanisms that are activated during the process of addiction. "We are literally addicted to love," Dr Young observes.

I suppose that this is acceptable drug-induced behaviour. But is this normal? There is debate about whether humans are, for the most part, naturally inclined to be included in the 3% of mammals that mate for life. If we are, then are those that do not feel this way around certain people defective, like autistic people? (I say this because I think that they are definitely one of the last groups where it is acceptable to consider them to be defective people. This says nothing about whether or not they actually are.) Should they be considered as having problems forming attachments with people? Should they be treated?

I think that one thing in favour of such a theory is there is an article which suggests that the more that we are in front of computers dealing with non-human problems, the more we are likely to find cases of autism, Asperger's syndrome and similar relationship-forming dysfunctions. It seems that Silicon Valley has one of the highest rates of this type of disorder than anywhere else. I wonder how much "true love" blossoms there compared to other places.

Posted by JonasParker at May 29, 2006 11:45 AM

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