That phrase is easily modified to take on a darker tone: "find a person, learn about each other's personal lives, gradually escalate to sleeping with them" makes me cautious. The very notion that it's possible for one person to engineer closeness has echoes within the pickup artist community, so it's worth unpacking the differences.

If one person has zero interest in the other person past as a means to a very specific end (sex), and is wholly untruthful about that, then it veers away from scientific study of friendship and closeness.

Taking it a step further: "find a person, learn about their personal life, exploit their weaknesses, escalate to sleeping with them" is definitely red-pill territory, and while it might be unfair to judge the original phrase after being modified, the only difference is the knowledge and intentions of one party within an unchanged process.

"Learning about each other's personal lives" has a strong assumption that the stories themselves are truthful and without pretense past a socially-acceptable normal level as human beings.

Interest depends on context. Just because someone isn't interested in someone at first, doesn't mean they won't be after meeting them again.

Would you say the same thing about introducing people to food? I have a friend that hates steak because every time he had it, it was cooked well done.

It wasn't until I took to to a good steak place that he completely changed his mind. Did I manipulate him? Or just show him another way?

The parent comment said nothing about neither the red pill or nonsense.