Joining topics

In this post, I'm joining a bunch of topics... sexual selection as an evolutionary mechanism, the neurochemistry of beauty/contentment, the complexity of the evolutionary process, and the influence of the environment on evolution.

Love and attraction are complex neurochemical processes. You can meet 10,000 people and only be attracted to a few of them. Of the few you're attracted to, only a few of those will be attracted to you, and an even smaller set will make it through the complexities of early courtship into a relationship of contentment.

Consequently, those neurochemical processes are highly selective. The question is -- what are they selecting for and why? Love is "magical"; a truly beautiful and still unexplained mystery.

Is love and attraction affected by environmental influences? In a world at war, are strong virile men more attractive than passive intellectuals? Is the opposite true in times of peace?

Is our very complex attraction mechanism (love) an evolutionary advantage? Does it allow us as a species to more selectively and rapidly evolve through sexual selection?

How might love and attraction be changing in response to our current world affairs?

Sexual selection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia