A Computational Perspective on Love

Exploring Love as Mutual-Adaptation Over Time

In Why you will marry the wrong person and On Love, Alain de Botton suggests that Romanticism has lead us astray and that love is better though of as something we create with another person by continually learning & teaching one another.

We can think about this computationally as the process of mutual adaptation - the dynamic ways in which we get "in-sync," adjust to each-other, and change together over time. The simulations below illustrates different ways we can visualize these mutual adaptations.

Explore the Dynamics
Click any button above to explore different patterns of mutual adaptation or see the full timeline of Emma & Jason's relationship.
Emma Emma
Jason Jason
Key Insight: Love isn't found - it's computed with another person through a continued willingness to adapt to each other over time.