Is marriage a chain reaction game?

I was chatting with one of my friends a few days ago (this really is *his* view, not mine, this is not an artificial conceit or persona on my part, this is already a secret blog) and he suggested that marriage was in fact a chain reaction game. A bit like musical chairs. Everyone would be better off if everyone stayed unmarried. Then you could go out with your same-sex friends every night. Presumably one could switch sexual partners quite often and quite easily as well, though oddly he did not mention this effect.

But alas, one of your friends sees an opportunity to pull off an above-average marriage! He strikes. Why? Not out of love, but rather backwards induction. He knows that sooner or later all the others will marry and he will be left out in the cold. Others in the group all see the need to marry too. Everyone pairs off and loneliness sets in.

Que triste!

Addendum: As for a cure, somehow the image of the nursing home recurs in my mind.