Love might be a second-order phase transition

The hypothesis of the human brain operation in vicinity of a critical point has been a matter of a hot debate in the recent years. The evidence for a possibility of a naturally occurring phase transition across this critical point is missing so far. Here we suggest that love might be an example of a second-order phase transition. We analyze three examples of love at first sight from classical literature, showing that they are compatible with the square root scaling of feelings with time predicted by the hypothesis. Two examples of love from liking also confirm the theory. Finally, we predict a critical value of liking ensuring the stability of relations. All results are also supported by the common knowledge expressed in proverbs. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.