From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!waikato.ac.nz!aukuni.ac.nz!kcbbs!nacjack!codewks!system Mon Nov  9 09:36:22 EST 1992
Article 7472 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Simulated Brain
Message-ID: <DLiJTB3w165w@CODEWKS.nacjack.gen.nz>
>From: system@CODEWKS.nacjack.gen.nz (Wayne McDougall)
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 15:08:48 NZST
References: <1992Oct27.182833.15332@oracle.pnl.gov>
Organization: The Code Works Limited, PO Box 10 155, Auckland, New Zealand
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d3g637@pnl.gov (David P. Chassin) writes:

> I have favored the belief that emotions do not originate in the brain, but
> they are, rather, the body's way of communicating essential context informati
> to the lowest levels of the brain.  When you feel excited about something, is
> it not plausible that it is your body that is excited first, and tells the
> brain so?  Certainly if I were to design a brain and a body in which it is

While I can accept that to a degree, I hope you are not suggesting that 
the brain or thought or consciousness or whatever can't communicate to 
the body. I can THINK about a roller-coaster ride, and my pulse will go 
up, body will tense, etc etc.
Since I can get excited by watching a TV program without sound, ie 
video input only, and since I don't think my eyes (and every other 
sense) are wired to every part of my body, I think my brain must act as 
a processing agent, and then alerts the body to what is happening.
I DON'T think my eyes can communicate to the rest of my body that 
they've just unexpectedly seen an alien monster, and the body should 
get excited. If they could, I'd suggest they'd need their own memory 
and processing ability, ie an off-shoot to the brain.

-- 
  Wayne McDougall, BCNU
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