Saturday, May 27, 2017

What is love - 1

I don't why but I have found myself pondering this question lately. Today on a phone call, my friend said - "I love you and I will not judge you no matter what you do." and I thought perhaps that's love. Earlier this morning, I talked to a friend and she said - "Love is wanting the happiness of the loved one and constantly striving to keep them happy." When I think about some people in my life that I am sure about I love, I think that love is wanting their well being no matter what. When they mess up, I do judge them but I never stop wishing them well. I don't know how long-lasting love is but I did feel a pang of pain in my heart when I heard that my uncle who I have not talked to in perhaps 10 years was going through a lot of sadness. I was raring to hear that he is his happy jolly self again which made me wonder if it was love I felt for him or attachment to an image of a loving-happy-jolly uncle that I have preserved in my mind for many years.

So, the only thing that I am sure of is that when you love someone, you wish them well. The intensities and ways of doing it may differ but the basic intention remains the same.

To be continued...

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Ex-Machina and sexism

I remember the movie Ex-Machina and how it depicted a guy's fantasy woman being created into a very lifelike robot. She was capable of feeling emotions, feelings, and physical pleasure. So I asked a guy if he would date a woman like that. He would know that she is man-made but won't be able to tell in any other way and he said, "Yes". I was a little surprised because the answer was a very loud and clear no for me if I were ever asked the question.

This got me thinking why when it came to emulating what we desire sexually and romantically as a machine, the natural choice for the movie makers was a woman. This is what makes me think that the objectification of women is deeper than the 'result of years of brainwashing by advertising'. Maybe when men think about what they desire, it's just a combination of a set of attributes and responses. As long as it's strictly in the desire realm, it's an object that they are desiring. If I could get inside the mind of a guy who is the average of the mind of all guys on earth, in a moment when it's at the peak of sexual desire, I would like to check what's being perceived as the cause of this desire and how much humanity is attributed to it. Maybe it's worthwhile to do the same for women too. and not just the average, we would also want the whole range and the standard deviation too. But I think there is a fundamental difference between how we think about what./who we desire.