sometimes I amuse myself with the thought that we're just more complicated human versions of Harlow's monkeys, the cloth mother being not "real" in the traditional sense but the monkey loving her nonetheless. I suppose a deeper analysis would suggest that it's not exactly the same though, because although me cuddling daki might be regarded as similar behavior I typically do it as a proxy of cuddling my waifu and not the actual pillow object. which raises the question of whether the Harlowian monkey is cuddling the cloth mother or its 'idea' of a mother, but I digress anyway, there are other examples of mimicry out there. I think one of the most applicable ones to waifuism is the bee orchid/mirror orchid, which attracts male bees via physical appearances (it looks kind of like a bee I guess) and pheromones similar to the female bee. while the bee attempts to "mate" with the flower it sticks its pollen onto the bee which it will eventually carry off and transfer via contact with another flower. so I guess my point or question is that as much as I like to think of my waifu as my soulmate, maybe the factors that lead to love for a fictional character are more 'primitive'? and is the primitive-ness of this mutually exclusive with the idea that my love is more than just a bunch of emotions fueled by chemical and electrical messages in my brain?