6 ms·

> What I have in mind, ideally, is a relatively quick and cheap activity, using behavioral, psychological and/or pharmaceutical techniques, that two people who

> What I have in mind, ideally, is a relatively quick and cheap activity, using behavioral, psychological and/or pharmaceutical techniques, that two people who have already matched for general compatibility (e.g. with a kind of dating service) can take in order to induce a mutual limerence-like state that can naturally turn into a stable long-run relationship. It's both sad and amusing to read discussions related to love that are so logical, cold and mechanical. Limerence is not love and if you want to use pharmaceutical techniques to form a "stable long-run relationship", why not just lock "pre-matched" men and women in a room with a bed and put them on a perpetual Soma-drip?

sidewndr46 5y ago
I'm pretty terrified of the idea of any relationship built on pharmaceuticals. It seems dangerous and unsustainable in the long run.
ReactiveJelly 5y ago
Logic can work on anything. In fact, it exists to serve emotions. I don't have a logical reason to keep living, I just want to do it so I do. But the logical reason to stay married to my partner is that it makes me happy to do so. The only reason people are sour about perpetual Soma drips is that they wouldn't work well long-term. Most drugs would be really good if they had no negative short-term and long-terms effects.
- LurkingPenguin 5y ago
  > But the logical reason to stay married to my partner is that it makes me happy to do so. Ostensibly, you actually love your partner and are not in a stable long-run relationship that was initiated by a mutual limerence-like state induced using behavioral, psychological and/or pharmaceutical techniques.
- bobthechef 5y ago
  > Logic can work on anything. In fact, it exists to serve emotions. That's a frightening idea (a riff of the classic Humean quip). Luckily, it is false. Emotions have their place. Properly developed and proportioned to reason, they can motivate us to do what is good and they can be pleasant. They are a good per se and a deficiency of them is defective as is an excess, but in mature adults, they are subject to reason. You wouldn't cheer at the funeral of your dead spouse, right? But if reason is subject to emotion, then there's no way to really object to the idea. > I don't have a logical reason to keep living, I just want to do it so I do. I disagree. The reason we wish to live is because to live is good. To exist is good. Being is better than non-being. We are by nature bound to want to exist. Even suicide is not really a wish for non-being, but escape from a predicament.
  - roenxi 5y ago
    > You wouldn't cheer at the funeral of your dead spouse, right? If someone truly hated their spouse I don't really see what the problem is. Although if someone was that happy that their spouse died I doubt they'd bother with a formal funeral. There are some deeply unhappy marriages out there. > To exist is good. Being is better than non-being. That isn't a logical conclusion though, that is a premise. Logic cannot provide premises. Premises enter logic from the outside, and logic decides if the premises are consistent with each other and whether they have implications.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    Logic and emotions aren't opposites. Emotions are a fact of life. Logic can help you manage them. If you feel like you would be happier if you met someone and loved them, you should probably do something to meet more people instead of just waiting for it to happen. That's using logic to manage your emotions.
slibhb 5y ago
Effective altruists writing about almost anything is highly amusing. I suggest as a followup essay: Art seems like a high priority. Research suggests you can make yourself like a painting by taking a special drug cocktail while staring at it for six hours.
- maest 5y ago
  I guess pleasure/endorphins seem like a high priority.
- klipt 5y ago
  Effective altruist after trying various drugs: "ensuring a steady supply of cocaine for everyone seems like a high priority..."
- jcims 5y ago
  Why go through all of that effort when you can just describe what you like and let the computer's imagination bang away at it until it creates something that moves you? 'crowds worshipping a ufo that has crash landed in the desert' - https://imgur.com/a/acdbLVu https://imgur.com/a/acdbLVu (courtesy colab notebook by http://twitter.com/rivershavewings http://twitter.com/rivershavewings )
unethical_ban 5y ago
I'll take that. Considering I have woman friends who say "you're such an amazing guy, so handsome" while they're single and not interested in me romantically, and I can't seem to be interested in women who show interest in me for a set of reasons only partially identified, I'm pretty much ready to go Brave New World on things.
- lelanthran 5y ago
  > Considering I have woman friends who say I see your problem. If you want to date a woman don't try to get to be her friend over the course of time, just be upfront about it ("I think you and I would be great together. How about we talk about it over coffee?"). Taking time to get to the point signals an extreme lack of confidence to women, and confidence is the #1 thing that gets a woman attracted to a man. If you don't want to be friend-zoned, then don't try being friends. Be honest about your romantic intentions and you will be surprised how far that gets you. Beating around the bush indicates to everyone (including other women, your family and friends, her family and friends, etc) that she can do better.
- pawelmurias 5y ago
  You should figure out what's horribly wrong with you. Or maybe they want to fuck you and are just waiting for an invitation to a date? Observing female friends talking with each other all the attractive guy friends are regularly evaluated as love interests and even given priority when planning social events.

sidewndr46 5y ago

I'm pretty terrified of the idea of any relationship built on pharmaceuticals. It seems dangerous and unsustainable in the long run.

ReactiveJelly 5y ago

Logic can work on anything. In fact, it exists to serve emotions. I don't have a logical reason to keep living, I just want to do it so I do. But the logical reason to stay married to my partner is that it makes me happy to do so. The only reason people are sour about perpetual Soma drips is that they wouldn't work well long-term. Most drugs would be really good if they had no negative short-term and long-terms effects.

LurkingPenguin 5y ago
> But the logical reason to stay married to my partner is that it makes me happy to do so. Ostensibly, you actually love your partner and are not in a stable long-run relationship that was initiated by a mutual limerence-like state induced using behavioral, psychological and/or pharmaceutical techniques.
bobthechef 5y ago
> Logic can work on anything. In fact, it exists to serve emotions. That's a frightening idea (a riff of the classic Humean quip). Luckily, it is false. Emotions have their place. Properly developed and proportioned to reason, they can motivate us to do what is good and they can be pleasant. They are a good per se and a deficiency of them is defective as is an excess, but in mature adults, they are subject to reason. You wouldn't cheer at the funeral of your dead spouse, right? But if reason is subject to emotion, then there's no way to really object to the idea. > I don't have a logical reason to keep living, I just want to do it so I do. I disagree. The reason we wish to live is because to live is good. To exist is good. Being is better than non-being. We are by nature bound to want to exist. Even suicide is not really a wish for non-being, but escape from a predicament.
- roenxi 5y ago
  > You wouldn't cheer at the funeral of your dead spouse, right? If someone truly hated their spouse I don't really see what the problem is. Although if someone was that happy that their spouse died I doubt they'd bother with a formal funeral. There are some deeply unhappy marriages out there. > To exist is good. Being is better than non-being. That isn't a logical conclusion though, that is a premise. Logic cannot provide premises. Premises enter logic from the outside, and logic decides if the premises are consistent with each other and whether they have implications.
- Zababa 5y ago
  Logic and emotions aren't opposites. Emotions are a fact of life. Logic can help you manage them. If you feel like you would be happier if you met someone and loved them, you should probably do something to meet more people instead of just waiting for it to happen. That's using logic to manage your emotions.

slibhb 5y ago

Effective altruists writing about almost anything is highly amusing. I suggest as a followup essay: Art seems like a high priority. Research suggests you can make yourself like a painting by taking a special drug cocktail while staring at it for six hours.

maest 5y ago
I guess pleasure/endorphins seem like a high priority.
klipt 5y ago
Effective altruist after trying various drugs: "ensuring a steady supply of cocaine for everyone seems like a high priority..."
jcims 5y ago
Why go through all of that effort when you can just describe what you like and let the computer's imagination bang away at it until it creates something that moves you? 'crowds worshipping a ufo that has crash landed in the desert' - https://imgur.com/a/acdbLVu https://imgur.com/a/acdbLVu (courtesy colab notebook by http://twitter.com/rivershavewings http://twitter.com/rivershavewings )

unethical_ban 5y ago

I'll take that. Considering I have woman friends who say "you're such an amazing guy, so handsome" while they're single and not interested in me romantically, and I can't seem to be interested in women who show interest in me for a set of reasons only partially identified, I'm pretty much ready to go Brave New World on things.

lelanthran 5y ago
> Considering I have woman friends who say I see your problem. If you want to date a woman don't try to get to be her friend over the course of time, just be upfront about it ("I think you and I would be great together. How about we talk about it over coffee?"). Taking time to get to the point signals an extreme lack of confidence to women, and confidence is the #1 thing that gets a woman attracted to a man. If you don't want to be friend-zoned, then don't try being friends. Be honest about your romantic intentions and you will be surprised how far that gets you. Beating around the bush indicates to everyone (including other women, your family and friends, her family and friends, etc) that she can do better.
pawelmurias 5y ago
You should figure out what's horribly wrong with you. Or maybe they want to fuck you and are just waiting for an invitation to a date? Observing female friends talking with each other all the attractive guy friends are regularly evaluated as love interests and even given priority when planning social events.