Apr 19, 2025
Comments (2)
Make an account to reply.
Thanks for the detailed response! I think the question of what is emotion is super integral to the conversation. I think if we boil down emotions to reactions that are mostly culturally constructed I think youāre right. AI can generate emotion-like responses that in all honesty can be indistinguishable from the real organic thing in some cases.
When you mentioned the idea that hypothetically if someone could mimic the neural pathways of a person we could have an AI that experiences emotion it sorta implies that the brain is the sole generator of emotion or at least the experience of them. Iām not sure if even then we could classify what it generates as emotions as Iām conflicted on whether the brain and mind (which I think plays a role in generating emotions) are one. Very mind/body problem vibes for sure.
Iām curious about your phrasing āThe full sensory and mental experience that emotions spawn in humansā. Do you think emotion is primarily defined by the reactions it causes within us? And do you believe that these sensory and mental experiences can be fully articulated by humans?Ā
Iāll definitely check out your recs thank you!
Apr 19, 2025
@ESOTERICPRINCESS Iāve always been taught that the chemicals in the brain are what cause emotions, so that is why I brought up the hypothetical. I see where youāre coming from with the mind consideration, though I have always seen the brain and mind as one entity.
Youāre right that my wording was confusing. Iāve talked about this a lot in therapy. Emotions and reactions exist in a cyclical relationship, but it can go both ways. Example A: I become livid because of one thing or another, and I start to cry. Example B: I think about the current state of the world, and I become upset. What Iām trying to say is, external stimuli can cause emotions AND emotions can cause external stimuli. So to answer your question (albeit not very well), both? Our reactions both define our emotions and are defined BY our emotions. Sorry if that makes no sense.
On the āfull articulationā front, I believe some emotions escape the confines of human language. I feel that I am fairly adept at expressing my emotions, but there are times where I just wave my arms around and cry/yell/make animal noises. This actually adds to the A.I. discussion, because all A.I. starts out being programmed by a human. So, if humans cannot define certain emotions, then A.I. will never be able to experience the full extent of human emotion.
(How many times can you write emotion before it starts to just become static in your brain?)
Thanks for this discussion!
