From: GeoffCobb@aol.com
Date: Thu Apr 03 1997 - 08:48:45 MST
In a message dated 97-04-03 00:39:16 EST, you write:
>
> Computers, on the other hand, are given instructions, in my opinion just
> simplified emotions. These instructions motivate the computer to do
> something. Without instruction, the computer does nothing and for all
> practically purposes, can be considered inactive. The computer without
> instruction and the human without emotion produce the same output,
nothing.
>
This is a good point. But it is a good METAPHOR, not really a fact or a
truth, in any concrete sense. Emotions are still not exactly "planned"
instructions, so the analogy falls a bit short. How these emotions come to
us, unbidden, is still not fully explained by cognitive science- nor is a
model of it avalable for computers, yet.
Also the emotions, unlike a series of computer commands, are known by our
mind to give sometimes faulty instructions, and are subject to us
overriding them in cases where emotional acuity exists, and where, with
foresight, we can determine a poor outcome.
However, emotion *does* play a critical part in creativity, and links
thoughts together in a way logic cannot, and these processes do produce
output of the nature you describe.
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