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  LiveWire / Teen Forums / The Intellectual Forum / Viewing Topic

Love is just a chemical reaction.
Replies: 25Last Post Dec. 27, 2007 11:02pm by mooble
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( pennyflower )


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I started reading this book, "How the mind works" (by Steven Pinker) a while back. It spoke about how every human emotion or reaction can be put down to science and evolution. Like, love is a chemical reaction that gets us to mate, that sort of thing. Scientific reasons why certain books or music seem to hit a nerve in some people and not in others. I would give more specific examples, but I stopped reading it a while back because I was busy at school, and ever since I haven't been able to pick it up. I sort of like having things left unexplained, and keeping up the illusion of love and deep personal experience as being a result of something more than science. I don't know if you'd bring in the idea of God here, but certainly something bigger than what we understand.

Do you think that we can boil down everything to science? Because I feel as though when I think of everything in terms of that,  the mystery goes away. Everything seems more clinical than "special".

(Sorry for being so vague)

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sami sam


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yes, i think that everything if you think about it hard enough is scientific,and that takes a lot of the mystery out most of it in fact but there but there is still a bit of mystery. i know that love is a chemical reaction but the only thing i personally dont understand is why its just a certain person (for me that is, for others it may be more than one person) that gives them that feeling of being in love. i know of a person that i can point out by voice, clothing, picture, sometimes even like a 6th sense kinda thing, pretty much i don't know how to phrase it but that person is like a part of me. that feeling inside i know can be explained somehow with science but i dont understand how

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notabadgirl

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FYI, everything is really just a chemical reaction.

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( pennyflower )


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I like to think that the feeling you described can't be explained by science, though I'm sure it could be debated. The book suggested otherwise, which bothered me a little, though I suppose it shouldn't, seeing as it's just somebody else's take on the matter.

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( pennyflower )


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Quote: from notabadgirl at 11:00 pm on Oct. 29, 2007

FYI, everything is really just a chemical reaction.

Yeah, I know. But I'm thinking about things on a less magnified scale, if that makes sense. I find it really hard to grasp ideas about things I can't see. Valid point, though.

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theatreminelli


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Have you seen or read Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan. Much of this book is concerned with the theme of Love being a trick of the mind to persuade humans to reproduce/protect their young etc.

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Heavenly Eve


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YOUR FACE is just another chemical reaction.

Yes, in the technical sense, people will always try to find a scientific explaination, however I do not believe that is ho things "should" work.
Science cannot answer everything, and should not.

Would life not be boring if everything was broken down to principles and everything is perfectly predicted by the laws of science?

I read the same article, and true are there are a lot of people that find the "chemical reactions" theory correct and logical

but somethings in life can be truth, but not justified truth. (Ghettier cases) and this is one of the grey areas~ and I don't think it should be attempted to be explained by science

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Bud2400


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Of course love is simply just a chemical reaction in one's brain.  Although it's a lot more complicated than one chemical stimulating others - it's likely a very complicated reaction (as opposed to emotions like fear and anger, which are so basic that we've already pointed out where they're produced).  I'd imagine just about everything we experience can be explained via things going on in your brain.

I think the more interesting question is if we discover how exactly this reaction works, if we can artifically reproduce it and associate it with a person.  In other words, a real "love potion."  Just imagine the kind of impact something like that could have.


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( pennyflower )


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Quote: from theatreminelli at 1:34 pm on Oct. 30, 2007

Have you seen or read Enduring Love by Ian Mcewan. Much of this book is concerned with the theme of Love being a trick of the mind to persuade humans to reproduce/protect their young etc.

I haven't, but it sounds good. I'll look into it.

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The Samsoniteman


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Quote: from Heavenly Eve at 10:54 pm on Oct. 30, 2007

YOUR FACE is just another chemical reaction.

Yes, in the technical sense, people will always try to find a scientific explaination, however I do not believe that is ho things "should" work.
Science cannot answer everything, and should not.

Would life not be boring if everything was broken down to principles and everything is perfectly predicted by the laws of science?

I read the same article, and true are there are a lot of people that find the "chemical reactions" theory correct and logical

but somethings in life can be truth, but not justified truth. (Ghettier cases) and this is one of the grey areas~ and I don't think it should be attempted to be explained by science


You're confusing what you want with what actually exists. There is no instrinsic problem with investigating biological functions of living things, in facct so far the good has vastly outweighed the bad.

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allsmiles


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Everything can explained scientifically, except why it exists in the first place. Science does not remove the possibility of love being some higher power; it just observes what happens to us when we feel love.

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Moridin


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Quote: from allsmiles at 7:36 pm on Nov. 1, 2007

Everything can explained scientifically, except why it exists in the first place. Science does not remove the possibility of love being some higher power; it just observes what happens to us when we feel love.

Asking what causes things in the beginning is like asking what is north of the north pole. Inflationary Hot Big Bang does not require a t = 0.

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Mullet Of Doom


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Quote: from pennyflower at 12:45 am on Oct. 30, 2007

Everything seems more clinical than "special".  

 Everything is clinical and a chemical reaction, but that doesn't mean it can't still be considered "special".  There is a reason that chemical reaction only takes place when you see certain people.

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allsmiles


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Quote: from Moridin at 5:29 pm on Nov. 2, 2007

Quote: from allsmiles at 7:36 pm on Nov. 1, 2007

Everything can explained scientifically, except why it exists in the first place. Science does not remove the possibility of love being some higher power; it just observes what happens to us when we feel love.

Asking what causes things in the beginning is like asking what is north of the north pole. Inflationary Hot Big Bang does not require a t = 0.


Was that supposed to be an arguement or a comment? Because it bears no relation; I never was asking about what causes things, I just said that science can't determine it.

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( pennyflower )


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Quote: from Mullet Of Doom at 2:37 pm on Nov. 2, 2007

Quote: from pennyflower at 12:45 am on Oct. 30, 2007

Everything seems more clinical than "special".  

 Everything is clinical and a chemical reaction, but that doesn't mean it can't still be considered "special".  There is a reason that chemical reaction only takes place when you see certain people.

Good point.

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