Ryan Roberts - Scientifically, Friendship is Superior

"But- But I want them to kiss-" 

Shush, imaginary representation of a teenage girl! It's my time to shine!

    Hi again! For the first time in my life, I am writing a blog about the stuff discussed in class and NOT disagreeing with it! I know, shocking! But I'll cut to the chase. I'm writing this blog to prove that, scientifically, humans are programed to form ties with their family and seek out a mate, but not necessarily seek out friendship. This inherently makes friendship that doesn't harbor latent romantic attraction as the most superior type of love.

    Okay, so there are three general types of love. Familial, Romantic/Sexual, and Friendship. Let's start with familial: 

    "Blood is thicker than water." is a phrase that people generally use to describe why you should, by default, love your family. But what's actually going on underneath the skull? Well, evolutionarily, people want to continue their bloodline and see it flourish. Love is a by product of this. Much in the same way that our brain makes us perceive babies as cute (so we don't kill them), our brain will default-ly prescribe love towards those that are in your family bloodline. Also, assuming that your family lives in the same household, the mere-exposure affect will influence you to enjoy people and the company of others you tend to spend time around. 

    "But I hated my parents and siblings when I was younger!" Was this right around puberty? If so, congratulations! You fell for your brain tricking you! Right around puberty is when you start looking for boyfriends/girlfriends/themfriends for romantic partnership. Your brain, to prevent any incestuous desires, tends to make you try and distance yourself from family because it is evolutionarily bad for the species. It's also really gross so, everyone say, "Thank You Brain!!"

    Speaking of, romantic/sexual love is also evolutionarily beneficial. Mostly, humans tend to look for the best possible partner to continue their bloodline, assuming heterosexuality. Homosexuality is also very natural, and that kind of love does appear to be more in line with what I'll describe as friendship later. But in general, homosexual individuals do tend to take the unwanted or abandoned children of the heterosexual couples, meaning that evolutionarily, they do in fact exist and have a purpose. But that's not what this section is about. To boil it down to the most basic of descriptors, romantic/sexual love is simply finding a person to reproduce with.

    But here's the fun part: Friendship. Friendship isn't something that is coded into our DNA. While humans are social creatures, and tend to try to work together towards a common goal and reduced suffering among the group. However, actual relationships aren't really required. What we deem as "friendship" isn't so easily defined with science. Hell, apparently I can't define it either! I got tested by a psychologist once and my result came back with, "has a fundamental misunderstanding of friendship". I don't know?! I said that its finding common interests with people and deciding to spend time with them to enrich your life. And apparently I'm wrong.

    My point is that people are hardwired much like animals. However, we have certain complexities in our brain that allow for further development of ideas and concepts. It's the reason why we have actual relationships with people other than, "You good mate. Let's make babies." And we aren't designed to seek out friendship. People find it by accident in my case, or by wanting genuine companionship. That's actually one of the reason why people say you should be friends with your spouse/romantic partner before you start doing the devils tango. This is because friendship is a deeper form of love than purely sexual love. Actually seeking someone out and building a bond is far more meaningful than seeing a pretty person and losing your mind.

...

"So... can they kiss too then..?"

*Sigh* Fine. Yes they can kiss. Have a wonderful day! ♥

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kip Redick Example of a Blog Post

 Page 4 Michael Taussig would suggest Juan's understanding of the meaning of a place emerges out of the process of an imitation of all the “differences” that we discern there. We mimic (in language and action) the full range of sounds, movements, and other sensory perceptions that come to us from the more than human world.” It’s hard to put a place that strikes us as sublime into mere words; we can try to describe it as a feeling and try to put language to that feeling, but sometimes the feeling of the beauty of nature or the power of a sacred space is too big to try to translate or make sense of. Would every place and experience be subjective, and would the discourse be the same? Would the mountain top make me feel the same as another? Or does my personal experience with the natural world and divine keep it intimate/ unique, or would my experience be relatable enough? The author uses the messiness, ambiguity, and mystery of people's deeply personal experience of ...
Read more

Rose Baker - Herbert's "Dune" and Martyrs

  In class, we talked about Jesus and Christianity as an example of myth. Myths and martyrs are dangerous to systems of control because even if they’re suppressed, they can survive and grow stronger. They last because they’re tied to belief, memory, and emotion---things you can’t fully erase. That’s what makes them more powerful than systems built on forced order or control. Even though much of the early church died gruesome deaths, and were consistently ordered to stop spreading the gospel, the "myth" of Jesus has continued for over 2000 years.      In Frank Herbert's  Dune , we see something similar. The Bene Gesserit know how powerful myths can be, and instead of waiting for one to form naturally, they build one on purpose. Through the Missionaria Protectiva , they plant stories and prophecies across different cultures, preparing the world for someone to fulfill the one part they can't fabricate, the living, breathing "savior" who must be visible and prov...
Read more

Joanah Eresechima - Blue Lock's Exploration of Flow

In the sixth chapter of American Camino , the concept of flow is extensively explained in the context of spiritual walking. It is described as unification of action and awareness to create a state in which thoughts are non-existent. The hiker just moves through the world, extremely aware and focused on the wilderness around them but unable to thoroughly reflect on it in that moment. It is only afterwards that the hiker is able to recall the memories from their flow state. Flow can occur in different types of people like artists, scientists and athletes (Redick 249). I was actually very surprised to see this term in the book because it becomes one of the central components in a manga I read called Blue Lock. The story followed a boy named Isagi Yoichi, a high school soccer player who got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a soccer program called Blue Lock meant to create the greatest striker in the world. Out of 300 players, he was ranked 299 th , making him one of the weakest p...
Read more