Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jbe who wrote (35072)	4/17/1999 4:11:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Ah my dear Joan, I think you have smeared some important distinctions. My post was aimed strictly at reproductive and child-survival behaviors. Generally speaking higher animals first engage in elaborate courtship behavior. Usually the male initiates the behavior when the female indicates (through a variety of mechanism) that she is ready. There will be active competition among males for the favor of the female. Based on the displays and adherence to the proper ritual the female will choose an appropriate mate. In many mammalian species, as soon as fertilization occurs, the female has no further use of the male, and chases him away. In other species, such as cichlid fishes, it falls to the male to rear the fry, and he chases the female away. In still other organisms such as birds and social animals, child rearing falls on both sexes and they bond for considerable periods of time. Of particular interest is the observation that in many birds, if the eggs do not hatch, or the fledges die, and the couple breaks apart. Human beings illustrate more complex behavior because we are tribal. Many primates form troops (extended families) and there is bonding among members of the troop. There is also communal child rearing (remember Hillary Clinton's It Takes a Village?). At what point we label these behaviors as love is a difficult question. I suspect that the emotion that we call love is initially sexual and gradually extends to group bonding. In the primate context, group bonding is strong, but monogamous behavior is not. I am inspired to ask: have you ever been in love? Yes, I am more than casually familiar with the emotion. Again, may I ask: have you ever been married? Yes again. The concept of "love" covers a wide variety of dissimilar and over-lapping emotional states, and thus we tend to blur distinctions. The love that we feel when searching for a sexual mate is quite different than the love some of us feel for God or country. And the bond we feel towards a life-long mate is quite different from the bonds we feel when courting. TTFN, CTC