Love, hypothetically

"Have you ever experienced love?"

"344"

"What?"

"That's our bill. You owe me 181"

"Oh. Yeah, whatever. I asked you something"

"What?"

"Have you ever experienced love?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course i have. I love my books. And my Macintosh"

"Not like that. I mean with real people made up of tissues, cells, mitochondrias and emotions"

"Oh, that? Sure, i love my parents. I love my friends. Come to think of it i even ...."

"Hey brother! I mean, have you ever been in 'love' ?"

"Oh that! Umm , you know there was this very cute girl in my school...she even had blue eyes. What was her name...? Dor...? ...? Nope, I've never been in love"

"Hmm"

"Have you? I mean been in love and all?"

"I think so"

"What was it like, being in love and all?"

"It was ... good. I felt wanted. I was oblivious to the larger part of the world. I even thought that i looked good. It was like having some purpose in life. I was ... just happier."

"Dude, whats with all the 'i-talk'? You almost sound as if it was a one way experience. Were you in love with that person or yourself?"

"I guess both. I did love her, you know, with all her quirks. But I guess it was fairly selfish. At the end of the day, she did make me feel good"

"This reminds of me this book The Selfish Gene. What it basically postulates is that the ultimate purpose of life, from the point of view of evolution, is to replicate itself. The main aim of the genes is to selfishly spread themselves via reproduction. that is why it makes you enjoy things like love , sex, happiness . By doing this it is strengthening the chance that it gets a representation in the next generation."

"Yeah i've read something similar too."

"Its interesting, you know. Its like our brains are some kinds of complex mathematical tools. By some calculation, you estimate that a particular person is more suitable to be your mate. I guess your genes figure out somehow that their propagation has more chances with that particular person's genes. Its all hardwired up there man. How are we then any different from robots? We too have some basic codes running up there trying to figure it all out. So much for free will!"

"You know, we are very different. First of all, robots' lives are not governed by chances. Our lives are...The precise fact that im sitting here, talking to you, is a ramification of millions of chances compiled over each other. Say, if your parents had put you in a different school, or if you were working in a different city, or if Ms. Sen had made you sit with Smita in class 7, we might have never known each other. Infact, most of our choices also are half chances."

"And free will is indeed flushed down the toilet"

"No, no. We do have choices in life. The fact that i decided to have a coffee with you is a choice. Or that, if i want, i do have a choice to step out of this mundanity and maybe join some NGO or make documentary films. I know, its not easy, but i definitely do have a choice! which brings me to my second point. The genes indeed are selfish and we indeed are hardwired to an extent, but humans have an ability to circumvent the selfishness of genes. Infact love is a testimony to that!"

"How?"

"There are so many people out there who fall in love for reasons other that physical attraction. Maybe for some qualities that we, humans, deem as qualities, but not nature. Like companionship and friendship"

"But isnt need for companionship a natural trait also? We need company because community living is easier in propagating a species."

"Hmm, i guess so. But community living is not a direct consequence of our reproductive needs, I guess it was an evolution of some kind. Thats what evolution is all about isnt it? Survival of the fittest. Community living sure makes that easier by giving you security against predators"

"Hmm"

"Coming to love again...as i said there are reasons for falling in love, that just our basic instincts cannot explain. People fall in love out of guilt, for redemption, even for the sake of power. It all depends on what circumstances you have gone through in your life!"

"So what is love then? Again a product of chances? Because the circumstances you go through in your early life are definitely out of our control. You might be born into a nice family or a dysfunctional one or your father might alcoholic and so on. On top of that, you have your selfish genes acting all the time. What is it then? Do we have any free will at the end of the day?"

"We do. Or at least an illusion of it. Just like love. But I'd still like to believe that love has something in addition to selfish genes and chances. I'd like to be in the illusion"

"So what happened?"

"Where?"

"With her"

"Oh , we grew apart. Got bored of each other, i guess. Coming to boredom...."

"5:30"

"What?"

"My bus. I have to rush. You owe me 181"

"Yeah. whatever."