This seems heartfelt but confused.
arcozelo wrote:
> If you give drugs to people who are depressed, and/or talk to them to make them feel better about life,
<snip>
> then it seems that we are left with the conclusion that our happiness is merely a self-produced drug.
Sorry, start over. Talking to people is a drug?
> I'm asking you to look at this as the transhumanists you strive to be, and not as the humane people you
> might be.
Can't have one without the other, as far as I'm concerned. There is considerable evidence, at least in mice, that SSRIs
and even lithium can actually promote new neuron growth. This implies the possibility of repair or rerouting of neural
pathways.
Thinking-emoting-sensing is a function of the entire structure, brain and body, in strange loops inside and out.
There appear to be two balanced areas, one in each hemisphere, relating to how OK things are perceived to be. I'm not
kidding; damage one area, and the other runs the show, apparently. Patients with the fretful region damaged have their
emotions caged and locked in "happy-go-lucky", no-problems-here mode. And vice versa.
So your question boils down to the reductionistic one: are we just stuff? Chemicals, cells, matter?
I think "we"'re _patterns_.
What did you want to be?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:43 MDT