Re: META: Emotions "vestigial"?

Chris Hind (chind@juno.com)
Fri, 18 Oct 1996 12:50:04 -0700


> If it were perfectly integrated with the new forebrain, emotion
>would serve seamlessly to to warn, motivate, entertain, etc. and would be
>easily programmable by the forebrain. Unfortunately, it seems that the
>"emotional thinking" we share with other mammals continues on and can only
>be overcome with conscious practice.

True, but there is evidence that we're evolving to that point in the fact
that we do _try_ to control ourselves as well as we can create designer
emotions already by fusing sensory elements in our environment together to
make a theme-like memory. A single memory would be like a picture or a sound
but a theme memory takes the whole environment and compiles it into a
feeling which you remember. These theme memories may be evolution taking the
direction of entirely programmable emotions. Evolution is already helping us
by taking the first steps to breaking down the hardwired part and softwiring
the brain so that the whole thing becomes programmable. If this is so, i
wonder if we looked at lower evolved man if their emotions and thoughts
would be even more hardwired or instinctual?