Delirium question

Well, there may be a couple TINY advantages. But no, getting rid of such a natural emotion... it's awful. That's the whole point of the book.

But if you are "cured" you do not know the difference. Having the experience of love before you are cured, then there's a problem.

The book is very thought provoking. I definitely think they are many advantages to a cure for love. As the book describes the feelings of love you realize as someone who has never experienced it that those things could be awful. It does cause depression and things like that. I have to agree with Teresa in that the big problem and what occured in the book is those that felt love then knew what they were missing. They couldn't give the cure to anyone under 18 and most fall in love before then and teenage love is very strong and powerful. I think if they cured everyone at birth it would have made things a lot different. The book also showed though how taking away love also took away the strong love parents have for their children which was sad. Love affects friendships and parenting and even pets. They showed how the dog kept barking so the solider killed the pet and family that owned it didn't even care. When you stop caring about anything and you lose love and passion that can start having dramatic effects on society as well. Lena talked about how when she was cured her friendship with Hana would change and how adults don't have the same loving friendships. Would a society without love eventually lose all passion and determination to excel at work and fight for things? I could honestly theorize and discuss this forever! It is an interesting thing to ponder.

I think it would be beneficial to separate actual love from all the other things masquerading as love. Lust, need for acceptance or approval, selfishness, etc.

Otherwise, no, I don't feel it would be good in any way, shape, or form to rid people of real love. Love is the driving force behind everything worthwhile in life.

i think that it's rather far-fetched to think that you can find a cure for a primal emotion - something that's been a part of humans since the beginning of time. it's not just the emotion that draws you romantically towards one another - it brings families together, and it even instills a sense of 'right and wrong' to an extent.

i get that society at the time of the story was trying to fix a greater problem that they had - and they felt that love was the bigger issue - but think about it, would you rather have a society of 'vanilla' - of people who were just doing the status quo and then you potentially sacrifice the idea of innovation and something new - or would you rather risk having something more extreme happen because you kept an emotion in the game. i'm voting for keeping love and not going for a cure.

Actually, I think I agree. This book was so convincing in describing how love could twist the mind, I almost agreed. However, what I think people really need is common sense instead of a cure for love he he

This is why I loved this book. It's a really interesting concept. And I think the originators of the "cure" probably did it in the best interests of mankind. But, as they say, the path to hell is lined with good intentions.

I think some of society's problems might be fixed by moderating some of our most violent urges--and love/lust certainly qualifies. But worse issues often spring from this sort of idea. Who says what urges to moderate, and by how much? Can forcing people into a "cure" like this ever be ethical? We do, after all, force people into obedience of many other laws, and this is is generally considered important for society. And even if we do deem it ethical, what unexpected repercussions arrive from playing god?

THIS is science fiction at it's best--raising questions that make us think. And I hope we keep discussing things like this, instead of boiling it all down to "team Alex" or "team Julian"

If I could have a pill or an injection that would make me numb and unfeeling when it came to love, I'd be the first in line.

Yes it is. That would eliminate much so pain.

I was appalled at the idea of 'curing' people of love. It appeared to me that the status quo 'feared' love and that is extremely sad.

The Bible says "perfect love casts out fear". I think perhaps they were warring against some forms of love that are less than perfect. That being sad, "you can't throw the baby out with the bath water". With love comes pain and you have to be willing to let down your defenses and love despite the fear of rejection or betrayal etc...