How can entries in a ledger or words in a book be said to have moods either? Answering that question for anything is verging on the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
How can entries in a ledger or words in a book be said to have moods either? Answering that question for anything is verging on the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
I admit, all of Alain’s considered options seem hopeless to me, those two included.
Defining the moods that way seems wrong. If some alien species evolves with a distinct biochemistry that has some similar moods, we wouldn’t assert that they weren’t the same. Rather the moods correspond to varying chemical states in these bags of saline solution and they are varying chemical states that predict some macroscopic behaviors of those saline solution containers, such as their tendencies to damage other containers or engage in activities that produce new containers.
It is trivial, but it’s because the great-grandparent of your comment is essentially a statement of the parent. When you combine the two, you get a pretty trivial statement.
It is trivial, but it’s because the great-grandparent of your comment is essentially a statement of the parent.
The parent is not, as the grandparent takes pains to be, ‘respectful to the complexity of the human condition’. The grandparent is obviously true. The parent is fairly unintelligible: in order to make sense of it, we have to define moods in such a way as to make it an empty tautology.
Is this true? Naive Googling yields this, which suggests (non-authoritatively) that blood sugar and moods are indeed linked (in diabetics, but it’s presumably true in the general population). However, despair is not noted and the effects generally seem milder than that (true despair is a rather powerful emotion!)
Blood sugar is very closely linked to self-control, including suppression of emotion. While this may appear to be a different thing, it isn’t: when you include feedback loops and association spirals, a transient, weak emotional distraction can become deep and overwhelming if normal modes of suppression fail.
Anecdotally: I’m not diabetic that I know of, but my mood is highly dependent on how well and how recently I’ve eaten. I get very irritable and can break down into tears easily if I’m more than four hours past due.
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--Alain de Botton
But...how can a mass of chemicals in a saline solution be said to have moods in the first place?
How can entries in a ledger or words in a book be said to have moods either? Answering that question for anything is verging on the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
I admit, all of Alain’s considered options seem hopeless to me, those two included.
Because those moods are defined as varying states of the chemicals in the saline solution.
Defining the moods that way seems wrong. If some alien species evolves with a distinct biochemistry that has some similar moods, we wouldn’t assert that they weren’t the same. Rather the moods correspond to varying chemical states in these bags of saline solution and they are varying chemical states that predict some macroscopic behaviors of those saline solution containers, such as their tendencies to damage other containers or engage in activities that produce new containers.
So Alain’s claim is then “Our varying states of chemicals in a saline solution are unstable because we are only chemicals in a saline solution”?
That’s trivial as can be.
It is trivial, but it’s because the great-grandparent of your comment is essentially a statement of the parent. When you combine the two, you get a pretty trivial statement.
The parent is not, as the grandparent takes pains to be, ‘respectful to the complexity of the human condition’. The grandparent is obviously true. The parent is fairly unintelligible: in order to make sense of it, we have to define moods in such a way as to make it an empty tautology.
Is this true? Naive Googling yields this, which suggests (non-authoritatively) that blood sugar and moods are indeed linked (in diabetics, but it’s presumably true in the general population). However, despair is not noted and the effects generally seem milder than that (true despair is a rather powerful emotion!)
Blood sugar is very closely linked to self-control, including suppression of emotion. While this may appear to be a different thing, it isn’t: when you include feedback loops and association spirals, a transient, weak emotional distraction can become deep and overwhelming if normal modes of suppression fail.
See here, here and here.
.
Anecdotally: I’m not diabetic that I know of, but my mood is highly dependent on how well and how recently I’ve eaten. I get very irritable and can break down into tears easily if I’m more than four hours past due.