Artificial Love

Artificial Love Life is as Real as the Real Thing

by Professor S. Farsad

Director of the Institute of Love and Romantic Ideas

Professor Farsad received her doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University. She has published several books, including, Why Do We Think We Think and Investigating Yourself Via The Television.

There is no such thing as romantic love. It is a myth which is intended to confuse the human soul from his/her quest for true and honest love for God. -- Saint Augustine, from the Confessions of Saint Augustine

Love is the triumph of stupidity over reason. -- Voltaire, from The Notebooks

Self love or narcissism is the only possibility for love that most people have. -- Freud from The Conversations of Freud

Romantic Love is a problem for most scientists and civilians because no one knows what it is exactly but most people claimed to have experienced it at one point in their lives. -- S. Farsad from There Is No Such Thing As Romantic Love

Artificial Life is life that is created by human beings which has all the qualities of natural life. Some of those qualities include the following:

1. The ability to reproduce

2. The ability to obtain and use energy

3. The ability to sense their environment and respond to stimulus

4. The ability to love

Can artificial life love? This is a very important question that must be answered if humans are going to invent other life forms. Perhaps if artificial life could love, it would reproduce much faster especially if it could love romantically.

I conducted an experiement about romantic love in the Fall of 1995. Because I did not have access to artificial life, I was forced to use two humans. This experiment began on September 12, 1995 and ended on December 11, 1995. The two subjects will be called S(the female) and D(the male). A series of rules were provided for the two lovers and if they followed them properly, one of them was going to fall in love. As it happens, S followed the rules more carefully than D so she was the first to fall in love. She experienced love for D on October 24, 1995. There are seven steps which the couple had to follow over the course of this experiment. These steps were taken from the book Love which is Stendhal's manual on romantic love.

The steps are as follows:

1. Admiration (September 12, 1995)*

2. Hope (September 13, 1995)

3. Birth of Love (October 24, 1995)

4. Doubt (October 25, 1995 to November 1, 1995)

5. First Crystallization (November 2, 1995)

6. Love is Solidified (November 3, 1995)

7. Second Crystallization (November 4, 1995 to the present)

*The dates correspond to S's progression through the emotional states which lead to love.

Stendhal developed these steps on love from his own experience of unrequitted love. He believed that if one went through these steps in order, love would occur. The steps that are most difficult to achieve and most important for the production of love are the first and second crystallizations. Crystallizations can be defined as illusions. For Stendhal, crystallization is that process by which an ordinary person becomes transformed in the mind of the lover into glittering perfection. So, the illusions that are formed about one's love object will actually determine if love can occur. The stronger the illusions, the stronger the feelings of love. Crystallization must then be a mutual development for both lovers, for if crystallization happens for only one party, the result is unrequitted love. It must be stressed here that after the solidification of love (step #6) a second crystallization must occur in order for love to be real, even if it is unrequitted love.

In my experiement, S and D experienced Stendhal's steps methodically, but this experiment resulted in unrequitted love because S was able to have a second crystallization about D but D was not able to reciprocate. Since the end of the experiment a separate study is being conducted on D to try to understand why he could not form the second illusion or second crystallization about S. Meanwhile, S is still very much in love and spends all her free time watching television.