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Comment by agumonkey | Hacker News Reader

Even without the social contract. First time I held someone in my arms I had visions of life long companionship. Not everybody is wired this way but it's often programmed deep down inside of us. Marriage is just the social incarnation of that feeling IMO.

Also some people say that a lot of animals have similar emotional/biological needs. It's not just a matter of homo-* history it seems.

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I'm not saying that there isn't something biological or authentic to it, but you probably saw a bunch of Disney movies and a bunch of other cultural messaging when you were a child that helped prime you to have this response.

Reminds me of this image:

https://i.redd.it/lr5rfu3paen61.jpg

I always have a big problem with this argument. To me the social protocol take roots in the emotional thus the biological. It's not really propaganda, it's self amplified reflection.

> Even without the social contract. First time I held someone in my arms I had visions of life long companionship

I would assume you were brought up in a modern cultural environment. That means your view of the world, your values, your expectations, your fantasies - are shaped by that upbringing.

So, your feelings are not good evidence that this is "programmed deep down inside of us".

Are you claiming that a desire for companionship with another human being is purely a modern social construct?

That seems a … bizarre opinion. Until industrialization, human relationships were directly tied to survival.

I claimed no such thing...

And, in fact you're making the point even more strongly, in that you seem to identify lifelong, formal, monogamous pairing with the potential for human companionship.

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