(November 1, 2023 at 9:31 am)Ahriman Wrote:

(November 1, 2023 at 9:23 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: Psuedo-reciprocity is all that seems to be required to generate the chemical brain state we call the emotion of love.  Illusions are sufficient.

People can experience the same love emotion they have for their spouses, for example, in their dreams for dream characters, or during hallucinations, or in religious interactions with their deity or whatever.  I have felt intense love in dreams and during moments of religious ecstasy, and it is similar in quality (though different in practical outworking) to the love I've felt for human lovers, friends and family.

If it was revealed to me that my child was an automaton, a P-zombie or simulation, and had never been conscious, the love I have had for them wouldn't have been any less than others would have had for their children even though there never would never have been any real reciprocity. And I would continue to feel that emotion subsequently (I mean, I already beleive all humans lack freewill and are conscious organic robots).

So yes, love as a bare emotion doesn't require anything beyond ourselves.

Well humans are free, for now. There are people who want to change that. Will love (in any form) be a relevant thing if humans no longer have free will?

(November 1, 2023 at 9:35 am)FrustratedFool Wrote:

(November 1, 2023 at 9:31 am)Ahriman Wrote: Well humans are free, for now. There are people who want to change that. Will love (in any form) be a relevant thing if humans no longer have free will?

If humans don't have freewill (as I think most likely) then love is what it is.  The emotion of love doesn't require freewill.

(November 1, 2023 at 9:43 am)Ahriman Wrote:

(November 1, 2023 at 9:35 am)FrustratedFool Wrote: If humans don't have freewill (as I think most likely) then love is what it is.  The emotion of love doesn't require freewill.

Sure it does. We only feel love for specific people/things etc. It's not a conscious choice, but on some level a choice is being made to love that person/thing etc. (specifically) and not everything else in existence. Love is very picky. It is a choice.

(November 1, 2023 at 10:06 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: People who think that love is a choice (freely willed or otherwise) have, I suspect, experienced very little love in their lives.  Or at least very little of what I'm talking about when I use the term.  In my experience, I have far greater control over the expression of my sexuality than I do over the expression of my love...which is setting the bar super low from the outset, lol.

Quote:A research group at Aalto University in Finland conducted a study to explore how different types of love are experienced in various parts of the body. Surveying 558 native Finnish speakers, they identified 27 distinct types of love, which encompassed feelings for humans, non-human entities, and abstract ideas.  The study revealed that while some types of love, like passionate love, were strongly felt throughout the body, others, such as love for wisdom, were felt less intensely and primarily in the head.

(November 1, 2023 at 10:19 am)Angrboda Wrote: Mapping love: How 27 different types of love manifest in the body

Quote:A research group at Aalto University in Finland conducted a study to explore how different types of love are experienced in various parts of the body. Surveying 558 native Finnish speakers, they identified 27 distinct types of love, which encompassed feelings for humans, non-human entities, and abstract ideas.  The study revealed that while some types of love, like passionate love, were strongly felt throughout the body, others, such as love for wisdom, were felt less intensely and primarily in the head.