Ladder theory is a ridiculous construct for people desperately trying to understand love from a purely intellectual point of view. It strikes me as one of those things that's correct enough to make it look like they have something; but at the same time, its reductionistic viewpoint causes you to close yourself off from wonderful friendships that end up developing into something more. And you won't realize you're doing this until it's happened several times...if you ever introspect enough to realize that.

That is the problem with something like this: it isn't intellectually rigorous, it just has the facade. The cost of simply holding the belief is higher than what you get out of it. It is not a truism, it's some kid writing on his blog.

(Sorry if I seem acidic, but there's very little critical discussion of the implications of ladder theory for one's belief system.)