<div dir="auto">I am trying not to be a jerk here, but maybe jerkiness Is so centralto my being that I cannot avoid it.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I promise you, the question was not meant to be (entirely)rhetorical. Glen has long since taught me that nobody uses words for absolutely nothing and if you folks see some meaning in that aphorism, there must be something to it. what is that something?</div><div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Nicholas S. Thompson</div><div>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology</div><div>Clark University</div><div><a href="mailto:nthompson@clarku.edu" target="_blank">nthompson@clarku.edu</a></div><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson" target="_blank">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson</a></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at 5:49 PM steve smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)">
<div>
<p>Nick -</p>
<p> And here I thought *I* was being "pithy", then you call me
out on my lithp?! ;^)</p>
<p> The strawman arguments have started coming out, I wonder if
anyone will gen up a steelman?</p>
<p>- tinman Steve</p></div><div>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 10/5/24 11:26 AM, Nicholas Thompson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>So in what sense and for what purposes is this pithy
aphorism useful? What exactly is the pith?<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If a metaphor, what is truth in the metaphor, the positive
analog. Nobody ever said that all metaphors are <i>entirely</i>
wrong.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>and yes, I am being pissy.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>n<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at
11:04 AM steve smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com" target="_blank">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)">
<div>
<blockquote>
<p>All <i>Pithy Aphorisms</i> are wrong, some are useful?<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<div>On 10/5/24 9:06 AM, Prof David West wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="font-family:Arial">my affection for the quote
derives from a metaphorical reading, not a literal one.
Something akin to Steve's differential rates of
evolution. I also would have eschewed 'god like' in
favor of 'magical' ala Clarke's dictum about any
sufficiently advanced technology.<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial">davew<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial"><br>
</div>
<div>On Fri, Oct 4, 2024, at 8:46 PM, Nicholas Thompson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" id="m_-5382373058960130223m_3719146269230241149qt">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>I think that this way of talking about emotions
precludes careful thought. First of all,
neurologizing emotions is just to hide the pea under
the wrong thimble. I don't think paleolithologizig
helps much more. Glen is correct that, whatever an
emotion is, its inputs and outputs are
ontogenetically and culturally determined. So,
fear, for instance, is a relation between something
that we take to be threatening and something that we
hope will be avoidance. Inputs and outputs are
everything. The rest is just arousal.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>N<br>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 7:01 PM steve
smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com" target="_blank">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)">
<div>Emotions/Limbic systems evolve at genetic
rates, institutions evolve at <br>
</div>
<div> social/cultural rates (maybe the fastest
significant change can <br>
</div>
<div> happen/resolve is in multiple lifetimes?) but
technology is advancing at <br>
</div>
<div> must faster rates?<br>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>
<div> Or is this wrong(headed) also?<br>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>
<div> On 10/4/24 3:43 PM, glen wrote:<br>
</div>
<div> > None of that is true, however romantic it
might sound. Depending on <br>
</div>
<div> > how one defines "emotion", that smells
the most true. But the <br>
</div>
<div> > mechanisms of emotion are as coupled to
current reality as is every <br>
</div>
<div> > part of our bodies. To suggest that, say,
the Space Force or methods <br>
</div>
<div> > like quantitative easing are medieval is
just nonsense. Technology is <br>
</div>
<div> > more democratized than it has ever been.
Granted, it takes (a lot) of <br>
</div>
<div> > work to familiarize oneself with
something like how GPS works or how <br>
</div>
<div> > to NOT click on that phishing email. But
to suggest that it's <br>
</div>
<div> > "godlike" says more about the person than
it does about the state of <br>
</div>
<div> > technology.<br>
</div>
<div> ><br>
</div>
<div> > On 10/4/24 11:16, Prof David West wrote:<br>
</div>
<div> >> /"The real problem of humanity is the
following: we have Paleolithic <br>
</div>
<div> >> emotions, medieval institutions, and
godlike technology. And it is <br>
</div>
<div> >> terrifically dangerous."/ Edward O.
Wilson.<br>
</div>
<div> >><br>
</div>
<div> ><br>
</div>
<div> ><br>
</div>
<div> <br>
</div>
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<div>Nicholas S. Thompson<br>
</div>
<div>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology<br>
</div>
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</div>
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<span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br>
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<div>Nicholas S. Thompson</div>
<div>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology</div>
<div>Clark University</div>
<div><a href="mailto:nthompson@clarku.edu" target="_blank">nthompson@clarku.edu</a></div>
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