I’m new to this site, but I recently placed an order by phone and was just talking with Jasmin about the need to get a good snort of oxytocin in order for it to be really effective.
That said, hormones and neurotransmitters seem to be the bottom-line essentials in attraction or trust. If you could trigger them perfectly through chemical means, you could negate the necessity for any other cues such as confidence, looks, wittiness, wealth, fashion sense, friendly mannerisms, intelligence and maturity, since those cues only lead to the chemicals in the end anyway, and the feelings are the true goal, addictive drugs that give the sense that all those desired components of the relationship are in place and all is right with the world. Having “good game” is nothing more than inducing the release of those same attraction chemicals through a set of cues. Remember, the feelings constitute the attraction, and the attraction is the relationship, at least initially. If somebody feels attraction to you, they will desire to act on it, and they will think it’s their choice, even though it’s never their choice. They still have free will, so better judgment may override the impulse to hit the sheets right away, but they will not be able to escape the attraction. So (if you’re worried about being ethical) if the feelings are present, any actions will be consensual, so chemical attraction is no more unethical than chatting somebody up or acting smooth and confident. Attraction is not their choice in those scenarios either. You either create it in them or you don’t.
The flow chart for the chemicals of attraction (the ones we know about) looks something like this:
First is an increase in phenylethylamine (PEA), followed rapidly by increased norepinephrine and free dopamine and decreased serotonin. All this gives the feelings of euphoria and excitement associated with attraction. What is less understood but surely occurs during close proximity is the involvement of subtle olfactory signals, one of which involves our good friends, the sex pheromones, and another which involves human lymphocyte antigen (HLA). The next step in solidifying attraction is a release of oxytocin and endorphins. Oxytocin, a “neurohormone” of sorts, in particular is responsible for a peaceful and joyous feeling of “bonding.” The last step in sealing a monogamous relationship (if you want that) involves vasopressin.
Trigger those in that order and in the right concentrations in the correct areas of the brain at just the right times, and you’ve got the basic recipe for a love potion. Alas, our current ability to make a magic potion with these ingredients is similar to tossing all the components of a computer in a box, shaking the box for a minute or so and hoping a computer will come out. But there could be hope yet for stuff like this if people keep testing out various combinations.
If you did perfect a “love potion,” the next trick would be getting the object of your desire to associate those chemical feelings of attraction with you and not merely with the wonderful setting or some food or drink or that good-looking person across the room. So we’re still going to need some social skills, to develop as much game as we can. This of course is bad news for the social retards who physically resemble Shemp Howard on their best day, the Phantom of the Opera on an average day and Pickman’s model on some memorably bad days. So, as I was telling Jasmin, I’m required - I mean, uhhh, those poor souls are required - to use technology to cheat nature.
then you know it worked!