On Thu, 21 Aug 1997 "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com> Wrote:
>Our emotions aren't hidden - it's obvious to anyone, internally and
>externally, that we have these things called "emotions".
Obvious? Sometimes I'm don't entirely understand even my own emotions, If you
can always tell what somebody is feeling you really should go into politics,
or the used car business.
>emotions are not subjective philosophical constructs that we can
>assign or deny at our whim; they are cognitive processes that
>objectively exist
If by "objective" you mean emotions are real then I agree.
If by "objective" you mean I can have the same sort of knowledge of your
emotions that I have of mine then I disagree.
If by "objective" you mean that when you and I act in a similar way we
probably have emotions of a somewhat similar nature then I agree. Probably.
If by "objective" you mean my emotions can exist independent of me then
I disagree, and so they obviously must be subjective.
>Emotions don't just happen, they are evolutionarily designed to
>serve specific functions.
Agreed.
>pleasure and pain are handled by entirely different sections of the
>brain, feel entirely different from a subjective standpoint, have
>wholly different effects, and in general are totally different
>subsystems.
Then why do some brains enjoy hot peppers, scary movies, and S and M sex?
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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