Xref: utzoo comp.ai:2821 comp.lang.prolog:1464 comp.sys.mac:23753 comp.sys.mac.programmer:3454 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!steinmetz!uunet!datapg!sewilco From: sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.lang.prolog,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Feeling and thought: which comes first? Summary: Feelings are status reports from Terran body. Message-ID: <2609@datapg.MN.ORG> Date: 7 Dec 88 13:23:41 GMT References: <17770@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <5626@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> Reply-To: sewilco@datapg.MN.ORG (Scot E Wilcoxon) Followup-To: comp.ai Organization: Data Progress, Minneapolis, MN Lines: 21 In article <5626@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> pluto@beowulf.UCSD.EDU writes: >One net-poster remarked that emotions and feeling are a natural >by-product of thought. I imagine that thought is a natural by-product >of feeling and emotion. Emotions and feelings are a "natural byproduct of" how our Terran bodies and minds function. Smell and internal chemicals (ie, "hormones") trigger neuronal activity which humans interpret as emotions. The limbic system seems to report many things which we interpret as "emotional feelings". Some "feelings" are also triggered by instinct or feedback. The "fingernails on blackboard" sound appears to be a primate warning cry which instinctively causes uncomfortable feelings in many humans. Feedback can cause feelings either due to memories triggering neuronal activity which are a "memory" of past feelings, or due to thoughts causing limbic-detected chemicals ("hormones") to be produced. -- Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco I'm just reversing entropy while waiting for the Big Crunch.