A nice formulation: "emotions are assessments of the relation between what I
need and the ability of my environment to provide it".Such an assessment is a
real-time appraisal which leads in each moment to what Nico Frijda called
"readiness for action" to improve that relation (and eventually to satisfy the
selfish genes which are behind it
all)http://emotionresearcher.com/interview-with-nico-frijda/-J.
-------- Original message --------From: [email protected] Date: 2/9/21
20:32 (GMT+01:00) To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
<[email protected]> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the
Source of
Consciousness by Mark Solms I might agree with Burkerman here, if we
understand emotions/motives as assessments of the relation between what I need
and the ability of my environment to provide it. Thanks, all. nNick
[email protected]https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/-----Original
Message-----From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of u?l? ???Sent:
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 1:13 PMTo: [email protected]: Re: [FRIAM] The
Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness by Mark SolmsThanks so
much for posting this, Russ! I finally got around to the Guardian article. I'm
at risk for confirmation bias because I tend to think consciousness is a lossy,
multivalent compression of interoceptive composites. And the extent to which
one can [⛧] feel what it's like to be some (other) thing depends fundamentally
on whether or not you a) have similar elemental interoceptive pathways, b)
whether they compose in a similar way, and c) compress to a similar result.
That allows for a spectrum of similarity from extremes of, say, a rock to a bat
to another human.In any case, it's on the wishlist:
https://bookshop.org/books/the-hidden-spring-a-journey-to-the-source-of-consciousness/9780393542011[⛧]
Feeling like something else is subtly different from *inferring* how something
else feels (or from being manipulated into similar feelings).On 2/6/21 5:15 PM,
Russ Abbott wrote:> About to be published.> > From a review
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/05/the-hidden-spring-by-mark-solms-review-the-riddle-of-consciousness-solved>
by Oliver Burkeman:> > Burkeman: Using poignant case studies of neurology
patients – including children born with brain damage, yet plainly still capable
of sadness and joy – [Solms] argues persuasively that consciousness ultimately
arises not in the cortex, the seat of advanced intelligence, but in the more
primitive brainstem, where basic emotions begin.> > Russ: In other words,
consciousness exists far down the tree of life.> > Burkeman: To the best of my
understanding, the gist [of the book] is > that feelings are a uniquely
effective and efficient way for humans to monitor their countless changing
biological needs, in extremely unpredictable environments, to set priorities
for action and make the best choices so as to remain within various bounds – of
hunger, cold and heat, physical danger, social isolation, etc – outside of
which we can’t survive for long. Doing all that without feelings, and doing it
as rapidly as survival requires, would take so many computational resources
that it would lead to a “combinatorial explosion”, demanding levels of energy a
human could never muster.> > Here's Nick Lane's blurb on Amazon >
<https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Spring-Journey-Source-Consciousness/dp/>
0393542017/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8>: (If you know Nick > Lane, you
know he is worth listening to.)> > "At last the emperor has found some clothes!
For decades, consciousness has been perceived as an epiphenomenon, little more
than an illusion that can't really make things happen. Solms takes a thrilling
new approach to the problem, grounded in modern neurobiology but finding
meaning in older ideas going back to Freud. This is an exciting book."> ― Nick
Lane, author of /The Vital Question/--↙↙↙ uǝlƃ- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. ..
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