Anna Machin. is an evolutionary anthropologist, writer and broadcaster whose work has appeared in the New Scientist and The Guardian, among others. She is the author of The Life of Dad: The Making of the Modern Father (2018) and Why We Love: The New Science Behind our Closest Relationships
Love is a form of biological bribery, a cunning evolutionary trick to make sure we cooperate and those all-important genes continue down the generations
The joy it brings is wonderful but is merely a side-effect. Its goal is to ensure our survival, and for this reason happiness is not always its end point.
- Love is ultimately about control. It can be used as a tool of exploitation, manipulation and abuse.
Jealousy is an evolved response to threats to our reproductive success and survival – of self, children, and genes
In many cases, it is of positive benefit to those who experience it as it shines a light on the threat and enables us to decide what is best. In some cases, jealousy gets out of hand.
- To understand someone’s emotional needs means you can use that intelligence to control them.
Evolution saw fit to give us love to ensure we would continue to form and maintain cooperative relationships that are our route to personal and, most crucially, genetic survival
Love is merely the sweet treat handed to you by your babysitter to make sure the goal is achieved
- Only by understanding its evolutionary story, the good and the bad, can we truly understand it and ourselves.
