A New York Times article muses over whether an anti-love drug could be the solution for all sorts of infatuation-induced woes...
"Could any discovery be more welcome? This is what humans have sought ever since Odysseus ordered his crew to tie him to the mast while sailing past the Sirens. Long before scientists identified neuroreceptors, long before Britney Spears’ quickie Vegas wedding or any of Larry King’s seven marriages, it was clear that love was a dangerous disease."
Could any discovery be more boring?
At the same time, it does highlight our increasing willingness to rely on manufactured emotions to more easily coexist within society. Just as a shy person may down a few drinks to interact more comfortably within a crowd, someone else may take anti-depressants not only for the uplift in mood, but for the way it affects the way she interacts with others -- perhaps to save a relationship.
There is so much social pressure to act and be a certain way that we're all increasingly willing to medicate ourselves away from our true feelings and inclinations in order to conform.
Without digressing too much into Brave New World references, I wonder if we are not slowly losing our personal identities in the process.
