“The world would be saved if we could just love one another.”
An airy fairy statement used by hippies and dreamers?
No matter how true the statement may be, it is hardly a pragmatic plan of attack to “Save the World”.
Defining love is difficult in many ways. It’s association with sexual intimacy, and it’s broad context of use where many contexts are deemed socially unacceptable to even have a hint of that association, make in depth discussion of love uncomfortable for many.
- Love your spouse
- Love your Children
- Love your Parents
- Love Trees
- Love a Business Idea
- Love a good Steak
- Love your God
There are so many different contexts where the word Love is used that it is impossible to determine if the world is increasing or decreasing in it’s level of Love.
In science, technology and business, when you have something you wish to measure, which is seemingly unmeasurable, you look for substitute characteristics, or if you are lucky, a substitute characteristic, which correlates strongly. Then you measure that. Interventions can then be trialled and reasonable assumptions on those interventions’ success or failure can be made from the analysis of data. Society moves in some direction or another as a result.
Pretty simple stuff, but what would be a measurable substitute characteristic for Love? I guess we are looking for an indicator or a “Symptom of Love”.
Furthermore perhaps we are looking to build the technology to provide the interventions, measure the results, analyse the data, and rework the interventions where appropriate to maximise the love.
Perhaps if this helped us practice the Symptoms of Love we could and would, over time, generate genuine love.
Use the old “Fake it until you make it” technique of self improvement on a global scale.
Now if I just had such a thing……….I reckon I’d call it Kahatika.