[extropy-chat] Questionnaire on senses

[Anders Sandberg]

Anna Taylor wrote:
> On Fri Jan 19 08:31:49 UTC 2007 Damien Broderick:
>>What do you think is your most keen sense?
> Kinesthesia.
>
> My apology, I meant, what is your most natural keen
> sense?

Well, that is a natural sense. Sometimes called proprioception. The sense
of where the different body parts are and in what tension muscles and
tendons are. It is usually bunched together with touch, but it should
properly be regarded as an independent sense (different receptors,
slightly separate cortical representation).

It is surprising how often people completely fail to notice it. I learned
to relax by deliberately learning how different muscles feel when they are
tense (I deliberately tensed them) and then how they feel when they relax
(I ceased tensing them). After a while it becomes possible to relax
deliberately, which is useful, but it only works once you have learned to
recognize tension.


-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University