Megan Sullivan

And you're telling me you won't take it.

So what am I missing here?

And it always sets off this just amazing conversation about helping my students realize what they think really goes into love.

Oh, it's the best.

One category of answer is students who tell me that if they took the pill, they would be doing something different.

wrong or unfair to the people they currently love.

So they're like, oh my gosh, if my best friend found out I'd taken the love pill and now I cared about everybody the way I care about her, she would feel super betrayed.

So one idea that we explore is like, does love require exclusivity?

And we're not talking about romantic love or sexual love here.

We're

We're talking about friendship and the kind of non-sexual form of love that figures like Aristotle think is also an essential element of the good life.

One of the most profound answers I ever got to the love pill thought experiment is I had this guy in class.

We can call him Chris.

I'll change his name to protect his identity.

But I had this guy in class.

He was a total philosophy bro.

He loved argument.

was the kind of guy that would go after another student in the class if they made a logical mistake in one of their answers.

When Chris raised his hand to tell me why he wouldn't take the love everyone pill, I half expected him to say something like, Professor, losers don't deserve my love.

But instead, he said something that was actually pretty deep.