[ExI] what's the use?

[Keith Henson]

Music is a side effect of our ability to speak and the bilateral
symmetry of the brain.  A stroke in the area opposite Broca's area
wipes out musical ability.  (This is in one of Oliver Sacks' books.)

Keith

On Fri, Oct 11, 2024 at 9:31 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> When I was a teen I loved horror movies and don't recall why.  I did get scared and usually ran all the way home.  Not now.  I have never gotten emotional from the visual arts - not at all.  Ideas can get me really excited but not in an emotional way.  It's more manic.  I get on my laptop and order some relevant books.
>
> When I was in NIce, a touring choir put on Mozart' Requiem.  I turned and told my wife that I would not be able to communicate during the performance.  It just choked me up.  There are time when I have to turn off a CD at home or in my car.  Starting to tear up is not consistent with good driving.    I have played several instruments since I was young but do not know if that has anything to do with it.  Complete mystery to me.
>
> “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them”.   Hume    (well, maybe not totally slavish - some emotions are destructive)  bill w
>
> On Tue, Oct 8, 2024 at 3:26 AM efc--- via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
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