From: Ruthanna R Gordon (rrgordon@ic.sunysb.edu)
Date: Sun Apr 30 2000 - 20:32:46 MDT
On Sun, 30 Apr 2000, Matt Gingell wrote:
> >Being in love is already such an overwhelming experience! And to not have
> >that love returned while sensing it never will, is to be in a mental state
> >of PURE HELL. To be in agony over a failed romantic venture, and have
> >medication to greatly lessen the emotional pain(not alcohol!) would be a
> >boon for humanity. For some it takes many months or even years to get over
> >heartbreak, and some individuals never truly get over it. The emotional
> >agony of heartbreak can interfere will all the other areas of that persons
> >life.
>
> I don't believe there's anything noble about pain - the idea that suffering
> builds character is horribly patronizing and unkind - but there's something
> creepy as hell about the idea of popping a pill to take away the pain of lost
> love.
I have to admit that I'm a better writer than I was a few years ago
in large part due to additional experience with the more painful parts of
human experience. And writing well is one of the experiences that brings
me the most pleasure. I do feel that there is some truth to the old
cliche that one can experience the positive only to the extent that one
has some experience with the negative.
Of course, one could just pop a pill to *experience* the pain of lost
love, and another when you felt you'd developed sufficient
character! Creepy?
> Surely love is a chemical state, some dopamine regulated attachment response.
> What about inventing a pill that fakes it? Two lonely people with nothing
> particular in common could agree to be imprinted upon each other. Rather than a
> dating service, you just swing by a clinic and get hooked up with some other
> lonely heart. The cognitive aspects would follow from the chemistry - it doesn't
> matter how revolting you'd otherwise find each other, once you've been treated
> you hallucinate your true love's perfection as usual.
I know plenty of incompatible people who've fallen in love anyway. They
make each other miserable.
I do like the devices that are being prototyped now--the beeper-style
devices that encode personality preferences and let you know when a
compatible person with another beeper comes nearby. Gets past the initial
unfairness of purely physical scans.
Ruthanna Gordon
rrgordon@ic.sunysb.edu
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