4: Love – the antidote – according to physics?

If you’ve been following this blog, or The Social Blueprint, you know that we (the authors) argue that damaged behavior follows a fairly straightforward equation:

short term benefits for user + negative long-term consequences = damaged behavior

Often, we hear that “all you need is love” in life. Well, turns out this is not far off.

Consider what we truly mean by “love” – upon consideration, The Social Blueprint defines love as:

Short-term sacrifice for use + positive long-term consequences = loving behavior

This is particularly true if there is no external compensation (such as payment or praise) attached to the sacrifice. For example, stooping over to throw a misaimed piece of garbage into the can, when nobody is around, is an example of love, though, because the sacrifice is not great, it is not a very loving act. But it still counts!

A greater act of love requires a heavier sacrifice – a parent who carves out several hours a day to do mentally engaging pastimes with their growing child, and who might otherwise want to sit on their phone and park the child in front of an iPad, is showing a great sacrifice, but the positive long-term consequences will be even more substantial because of it.

Newton said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction – so it is no surprise that love, which has an equation precisely opposite to damage, is also its antidote. They are the antithesis of each other. Since The Social Blueprint aims to reduce damage and heal self-destructive personal and societal behavior, we will also be looking at how to increase love in the systems of our lives. Like a two-piston engine, where one cylinder is damaged, and the other is love, they must together equal one hundred.

Right now, in most developed countries, it seems like damage is at a 70 or 80 and love at a corresponding 30 or 20. According to The Social Blueprint's plan, we would expect the proportions to be inverted. That’s the fun! How to tackle this elusive and shadowy enemy plaguing humankind? Like cancer, damage hides within us and was unknown for a significant period of history. So, like the first oncologists, we must learn more about it.

Check out the link below for a more comprehensive video of love (there are two parts!)

Episode 3: What is Love? Part 1 (TSB Chapter 6)