[ExI] what's the use?

[efc at disroot.org]

On Sun, 6 Oct 2024, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat wrote:

> The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in
> biology. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose research overturns the long-standing
> belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, Barrett shows, we construct each
> instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture.
> 
> This is a blurb from Amazon for the bookI recently read:  
>              How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Paperback – Illustrated, March 13, 2018  Lisa Barett -
>                                                      psychologist/neuroscientist
> 
> 
> Basic idea is fairly old:  emotions are nothing but arousal interpreted.  Arousal on a roller-coaster gets interpreted by some as
> fear, by some as excitement, and by some as both.  The fear giving the excitement a bit of a frisson.  
> 
> As for music - I have no idea, but nothing in this world can get me more emotional than music. It doesn't have to be classical.

Fascinating! Music does not at all have this effect on me. I'm this 
strange kind of human being who appreciates music, but, for me it is not 
essential in any way. I can go many days and weeks, quite happily, without 
hearing a song.

Books, ideas, and movies cause more profound emotional reactions for me 
than music most of the time.