In a message dated 3/22/01 2:02:14 AM Eastern Standard Time, N.Faulkner@tesco.net writes:
<< > > You could say that we are genetically programmed to develop crushes on
actors!
I would rather say that we are socially conditioned :)-- and repeat that
I'm
not entirely sure that the function of the crush is purely one related to the propagation of genes....
As I said above, not 'purely', because genes can't work directly. They
have to hoodwink us with other satisfactions peripheral to their purpose.>>
Falling in love, either with an actor or a person in your life, is a biological condition triggered by chemicals. As coldly scientific as that sounds, the condition of leverance has been proven in the lab. It can have many different degrees, but it follows a prescribed biological pattern, and has perpetuated in the genes of our species (and probably in other species) as a means of continuing the species. One can fall into the emotional condition known now as 'leverance' under a host of circumstances, including weekly exposure to an attractive television character we have come to feel close to and care about. This displacement is a modern phenomenon, but chemically, it's every bit as real as meeting someone you come to regard as 'the one' (someone you wish to mate with). We are rational, thinking creatures--but only recently. We still dwell in a biological engine that can't rely on rational thought for survival, and isn't taking any chances. A few thousand years of self-awareness and civilization structure isn't going to change that.
Leah