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Sure, anything, including relationships, can be viewed through an economic framework, and our recent Western notion of romantic love contains many myths and unrealistic expectations; but I wouldn't go as far to say that love doesn't exist or is a joke.
Why would you change the quote to me saying that? lol..
Economics is nothing more and nothing less than the study of how people exchange things, how they work together as individuals, and in the aggregate how this works in society. Presumably human interactions are based on self-interest… maybe not entirely (altruism does exist), but often enough. Is it far-fetched to suppose that humans seek to mate with the "best" possible partner, and that conscious and subconscious factors are involved in sizing up potential mates, as a farmer sizes up cattle? It might be crass and psychologically deflating to simplify the mysteries of love to brute cost-benefit calculations. It sounds profane and sickening. But is it patently incorrect?
As for the friendly suggestions that the OP use his newfound knowledge to succeed in the game of dating-and-mating, do please note the distinction between philosophical coverage of some subject, and practical acumen. Consider for example stock-market investment. Professional economists are no better at picking stocks than plumbers or janitors. Or chimpanzees. This doesn't mean that their theories are wrong or incapable of explaining anything. They just don’t have a practical application. Whether the OP has perfectly nailed the explanation of how dating works, or whether his explanation fails miserably, has no bearing on what happens in his own personal life.
What's so grating about the OP's post is the implication that humans are just brute animals, beasts on the prowl, dressed up in fancy accouterments signifying nothing. I don’t believe that. I believe that humans are worse than beasts. Beasts are more forthright and less judgmental.
What's so grating about the OP's post is the implication that humans are just brute animals, beasts on the prowl, dressed up in fancy accouterments signifying nothing. I don’t believe that. I believe that humans are worse than beasts. Beasts are more forthright and less judgmental.
What's so grating about the OP's post is the implication that humans are just brute animals, beasts on the prowl, dressed up in fancy accouterments signifying nothing. I don’t believe that. I believe that humans are worse than beasts. Beasts are more forthright and less judgmental.
The sad part is that that person probably believes what they're saying.
To someone with low self esteem, all compliments are false or backhanded. To someone who is corrupt, all things are corrupt. To someone who is a cheater, all people cheat.
Comments like this thread say far more about the poster themselves than any real comment on humanity or its motivations.
Otherwise the girl I have a crush on (poor, downtrodden, alcoholic and in a mess) would easily establish a relationship with me based on my sudden wealth.
You can apply economic models to explain some aspects of romantic interactions; however, you cannot reduce romantic interactions to economic interactions. Actually, you cannot even explain all economic interactions with simple economic models. No map can account for any whole territory.
Notice it's the women that react so negatively to this assertion. Women (generally speaking) are very heavily invested in the idea that love/dating/relationships are magic, fairy dust, unicorn tails and fated to happen.
Of course, that notion is ridiculous.
The OP's point is wrong because it doesn't go far enough. He stopped short by limiting it to "love" and dating relationships when really ALL human interaction is governed by economic principles and are transactional in nature.
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