Romantic Love, Solved
2/18/20261 hr 42 min
We put love on trial — literally. Drew and I squared off in a full debate over whether romantic love is overrated. I made the case that love is basically your brain's con man, a neurochemical hijacking designed to make you delusional about deeply flawed people, and that the most intoxicating relationships are often the most toxic. Drew fought back with the evidence that love is the foundation of social infrastructure, physical health, and long-term happiness. By the end, we came to a gentlemen’s agreement: a framework that explains why we're all chasing the wrong kind of love, and what...
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Mark Manson· Host0:27
[upbeat music] Welcome back, everybody, to the Solved podcast. I am bestselling author Mark Manson, and this is my intrepid co-host, producer, and today, opponent.
Drew Birnie· Co-host0:41
[laughs] Your adversary.
Mark Manson· Host0:43
Drew Birnie.
Drew Birnie· Co-host0:44
Here we go.
Mark Manson· Host0:44
And today we are putting love on trial.
Drew Birnie· Co-host0:47
Mm-hmm.
Mark Manson· Host0:48
Now, there's a few reasons for this. We just did a massive Solved da- episode on dating, and we went through all of the different factors that bring people together, why human courtship is so strange and long and complex and socially varied, why people date the wrong people for themselves, why they date the right people for themselves, what it, what causes attraction. But one of the things that was conspicuously missing from that episode was a deep discussion of romantic love, and that's because we wanted to do this episode and ask the question, is love overrated? You hear all these tropes, all these cliches that love is all you need, that love, all you need is love, e- love fixes everything, love