Love Bytes: Decoding the Algorithm of Attraction

Edy Zoo
3 min readDec 21, 2023
Photo by Alexandru Acea on Unsplash

Forget the rom-com, the heartthrob posters, and the whispered promises of pheromones. The truth about sexual attraction is far messier, far more fascinating, and far less predictable than Hollywood would have you believe.

It’s not a lightning bolt from the sky nor a preordained script for our love lives. It’s a complex dance of biology, psychology, and experience, a code written in the language of senses, emotions, desires, and vulnerabilities.

Evolution, that mischievous puppeteer, has woven its intricate threads into the fabric of attraction. We are subconsciously drawn to cues that whisper of compatibility, genetic legacy, and survival.

Symmetry, a testament to healthy development, holds a subtle allure. Physical features, echoes of ancestral preferences, can spark a flicker of interest. Yet, to reduce attraction to a mere biological algorithm is to rob it of its magic, its messy, beautiful humanity.

Psychology, the mind’s cunning architect, adds its layer of complexity. Our past experiences, the imprints of love and loss, shape our desires. Similarity, a comforting echo of familiarity, can draw us in, while difference, a tantalizing promise of novelty, can ignite our curiosity.

Shared values, a bridge across the chasms of self, can solidify attraction…

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Edy Zoo

Edy Zoo is a social critic, theologian, and philosopher who writes about social subjects.