evolution of the mind, body and soul - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Sleepyjack · 07-12-2003, 02:02 AM

Well this isn't really for anyone who believes in creationism, but i was just thinking today, after experience some wierd emotions and conflicts in my head, that like our body has (or may have), does our mind evolve in any capacity. Sure, we're probably getting smarter, but i am thinking mainly involving the evolution of emotions, such that they may become more powerful or there are more of them, or something along those lines.
Did the primates that we may have evloved from all those millions of years ago experience similar emotions as we had today, or is it more of a social thing rather than personal or the other way...
Also, will any other species, perhaps, evolve to some kinda of similar level that we're at today.

your thoughts on the topic would be appreciated

lurkette · 07-12-2003, 05:11 AM

Technically modern humans are not homo sapiens, which is considered "early human" (as distinct from the then-contemporary neanderthal), but homo sapiens sapiens or "man double wise." So there would appear to be some evolution happening, not just anthropologically but also mentally, albeit slowly. With the advent of complex information technology and the kind of mechanical implants we're starting to see, I can imagine that homo cyborg (made it up) is just around the corner. I'll be first in line for a wet-wired net uplink. Also, if you look at the kind of brain activitiy involved in working with computers, video games, etc., it's theoretically possible that some humans already predisposed to facility with computers could start to evolve more machine-like capabilities, organically, not from implants. But I'm not sure that would make them a different species, evolutionarily speaking, or if that's just considered radical specialization.

CSflim · 07-12-2003, 07:04 AM

I'm just gonna copy + paste something from a different thread, where I explained my take on the evolution of emotions.

Quote:

Originally posted by CSflim
I wouldn't say that emotion is man's greatest fault. But I do think that they are over-rated by our modern society. The idea of being logical is looked on as being "cold" and "inhummane". To me, emotions are just evolutionary mechanisms, which would have preceeded rational thought and intelligence. Almost all of our emotions can be expalined in evolutionary terms.

Take for instance fear. We will use the exapmle of two primitive humans wandering the jungle, having come across a ferocious lion. The first human has the emotion of "fear", sees the roaring beast with massive teeth, and gets scared. He immediately turns around and runs for it. Our second human, decides to consider the consequences. To logically weigh up his options given the situation. He quickly comes to the conclusion, that if he doesn't run away he is going to be killed. Unfortunately for him, it is too late, as the lion has already pounced on him!

Also, not only does the emotion of fear, encourage our first man to run away, it makes him run away faster. When we get scared, our hear starts beating faster, we start breating lasrge gulps of oxygen, and our body fills our bloodstream with endorfuns and adrenaline, all of which is beneficial to us for running away. These endorfuns can give us quite a "buzz" which is why we love to get "scared" by horror films and rollercoasters and the like. We "logically" know that the horror film can't hurt us, but we don't emotionally know it, hence our bodygets scared, and we feel excited and feel the "buzz" from the natural drugs in our blood.
It has also been suggested that the reason that you "shit yourself" when you get really scared is so as to make your body as light as possible, again to aid you in making your get away.

Or take what is commonly described as "our most powerful emotion", love. Well consider who it is, that our love is most strongest for: our sexual partner, and our children. Both of these people are vital, in order for you to achieve your ultimate purpose in life; pass on your genetic material. So in essence, you feel a very strong need to protect these people, and ensure no harm comes to them, so you "love" them.

Or take even the emotion of disgust. Again, we have two primitive humans. this time them come across a hunk of rotting meat. The first human sees this and "knows" that it is disgusting, so turns and walk away. The second "logical" human looks at the rotten meat. This meat doesn't look the best, but he's pretty hungry. He comes to the logical conclusion that old meat is better than no meat at all. He of course knows nothing about hyegine, or bacteria, and doesn't realise that eating this rotten meat will make him ill.

So emotion is a by-product of our evolution. Like ART said, its important to ackowledge that your emotion is there, but letting it rule your life, or letting it "over-ride" the logical part of your brain is not a good thing.

I believe that all of our fundamental emotions have an evolutionary origin.

However, that being said, I think a lot of our more "strange" emotions may be due to social influences. After all, the world that we're living in today, is very different from the environment we lived in just a short few thousand years ago. We experience life in a veyr different manner, and our traditional emotional response does not know how to cope, which could lead to "mixed emotions", or put more bluntly, the feeling of "being fucked up".
I believe that today in society, we place far too much emphasis on our emotions. Our emotional feelings are proposed to transcend all external knowledge:
"Beauty is Truth, and Truth Beauty, that is all ye know, and all ye need to know"
Some people seem to think that emotions are the most powerful form of "knowledge", yet, I believe that emotions are just in-built instinctual responses to situations. In order to free your mind, you need to externalise yourself away from your feelings.

As for whether or not we are still evolving emotions, it's hard to know. More importantly are we still evolving at all? I would suggest that those of us living in the developed western world are not evolving. The death rate is too low. There is little or no selection pressure.

That being said, in less developed areas of the world, where death rates are higher, then natural selection comes into play. There have been some, as of yet un-proven, reports of Africans who have evolved a resistence to AIDS.

I would suggest, over all, I don't think that we are currently evolving new emotions, but it's no beyond belief.

07-12-2003, 02:02 AM	#1 (permalink)
Sleepyjack Fast'n'Bulbous Location: Australia, Perth	evolution of the mind, body and soul Well this isn't really for anyone who believes in creationism, but i was just thinking today, after experience some wierd emotions and conflicts in my head, that like our body has (or may have), does our mind evolve in any capacity. Sure, we're probably getting smarter, but i am thinking mainly involving the evolution of emotions, such that they may become more powerful or there are more of them, or something along those lines. Did the primates that we may have evloved from all those millions of years ago experience similar emotions as we had today, or is it more of a social thing rather than personal or the other way... Also, will any other species, perhaps, evolve to some kinda of similar level that we're at today. your thoughts on the topic would be appreciated

07-12-2003, 05:11 AM	#2 (permalink)
lurkette My future is coming on Moderator Emeritus Location: east of the sun and west of the moon	Technically modern humans are not homo sapiens, which is considered "early human" (as distinct from the then-contemporary neanderthal), but homo sapiens sapiens or "man double wise." So there would appear to be some evolution happening, not just anthropologically but also mentally, albeit slowly. With the advent of complex information technology and the kind of mechanical implants we're starting to see, I can imagine that homo cyborg (made it up) is just around the corner. I'll be first in line for a wet-wired net uplink. Also, if you look at the kind of brain activitiy involved in working with computers, video games, etc., it's theoretically possible that some humans already predisposed to facility with computers could start to evolve more machine-like capabilities, organically, not from implants. But I'm not sure that would make them a different species, evolutionarily speaking, or if that's just considered radical specialization. __________________ "If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." - Anatole France