Ladder Theory Criticisms

If you're not in the know, this is all you need to know about Ladder Theory, men have a metaphorical ladder for attraction, the more they want to have sex with someone, the higher up on the ladder they are. Women have two ladders, one for people they want to remain friends with, and one for actual sexual attraction. Also, men rate potentials by attraction and attainability, women rate potentials by a combination of attraction, (sub-divided into novelty, looks, and competition) money/power, and a small percentage is dedicated to things women say they want in men, but don't really: the usual sense of humor, sensitivity, intelligence, etc.

Of course when you hear a theory like this, most people's initial reactions would be to falsify it in favor of fleshing out the more complicated nature of human relationships, but I usually stop myself in these cases, and realize I don't have a better way of putting this subject into perspective, so who am I to destroy the pre-existing perspective?

I usually think this way, because I like to entertain people's ideas on things, see if they work at all, to see if I can gleam some sort of greater truth or insight on things. I have to do this, because if I actually maintain a paradigm, I find more often than not that I become less able to empathize with people's beliefs and thoughts that might oppose the viewpoint I hold. I usually associate this type of reaction as arrogance and ignorance, disconnection and generally becomes a problem, because even if you're right, it doesn't prove anything to anyone unless you have a clear agenda in mind.

So this intrigued me even more, because I just surrendered to the fact that more likely than not, the world will never agree on virtually anything, nor should they, lest they alienate everyone that ventures further outside the box. That is to say, forward thinking absolutely demands acceptance of all ideas, wrong or not, but truth isn't something that should be maintained, but rather recognized and appreciated. This viewpoint isn't all that negative actually, it actually lends itself to possibilities of more friendly intellectual adventures, suddenly ultimate truth isn't the aim, the objective rather is to push envelopes and expand the mind to encompass more and more, and that doesn't seem like such a bad thing, because in the end, the more a man expands his mind, the larger his capacity to understand the nature of truth anyway, but instead of becoming a fixated paradigm, it becomes a general intuitive understanding of how truth operates, and what we can learn from it.

So, my thoughts on ladder theory are playful, really, I can't say anything bad about it one way or the other. Sure, there may be more to human nature and relationships than perceived by ladder theory, but I couldn't honestly tell you, based on my experiences, that women care more about intelligence and personality than looks and power, just as I couldn't honestly say I would rather be in a relationship with a mentally stimulating and fun-loving woman than a drop-dead gorgeous chick. It hurts to say it, spite has a funny effect on people, and while mentally engaging myself is one of my life's ultimate pursuits, you simply can't deny human nature and take yourself seriously.