> Why do we have emotions? Aren't simple, value-conferring feelings good > enough or something?
Through adaption to the environment (non evolutionary), the human brain grows to become a much more complex systems than what could be encoded in the genotype. Lets just say that the Kolomogorv complexity of an adult human brain is much greater than the Kolmogorov complexity of the genotype of the same individual. There is a dimension of being human that is not contained in genes, but in society, the famous memes. Also, genetic evolution seems to be much slower than social adaption. There's no way that the genotype could encode specific programs for things like: you have to mate with the best possible individual, try to stay alive, sacrifice yourself to protect your group in extreme cases and so on. The way out is emotions: strong responses that override whatever states the brain constructs. I believe emotions are very basic things. Just strong, overriding, biological responses. I'm sure animals have them too. How else would their brains develop to hunt, mate or whatever in a complex environment? The thing is, we humans also have the ability to intelectually analyze our own emotions. Given our higher cognitive capabilities, we feel wonder (another emotion) at the way our rational constructs are override sometimes. I'm not sure about the distinction between feeling and emotions. My mother tongue is portuguese. In portuguese, the equivalent phrase to "you hurt my feelings!" is "magoaste-me!", which translated directly to "you hurt me!". So the feeling part appears to be just a non-universal cultural interpretation. Cheers, Telmo Menezes. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
