<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title><style type="text/css">p.MsoNormal,p.MsoNoSpacing{margin:0}</style></head><body><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="qt" style=""><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 class="qt-gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="qt-gmail_attr">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 class="qt-gmail_quote" style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204, 204, 204);padding-left:1ex;"><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><div> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .<br></div><div> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br></div><div> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom <a href="https://bit.ly/virtualfriam" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br></div><div> to (un)subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br></div><div> FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a><br></div><div> archives: 5/2017 thru present <a href="https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/</a><br></div><div> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 <a href="http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/</a><br></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span class="qt-gmail_signature_prefix">--</span><br></div><div dir="ltr" class="qt-gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Nicholas S. Thompson<br></div><div>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology<br></div><div>Clark University<br></div><div><a href="mailto:nthompson@clarku.edu" target="_blank">nthompson@clarku.edu</a><br></div><div><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson" target="_blank">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson</a><br></div></div></div><div>-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .<br></div><div>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br></div><div>Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom <a href="https://bit.ly/virtualfriam">https://bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><br></div><div>to (un)subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br></div><div>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a><br></div><div>archives: 5/2017 thru present <a href="https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/">https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/</a><br></div><div> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 <a href="http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/">http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/</a><br></div><div><br></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:Arial;"><br></div></body></html>