Isn't human emotion fascinating?

[Saint Nick]

I am reading through a vast sea of YAGT on here, and reading through other threads where people are angry or otherwise upset about something. And I was just thinking... isn't human emotion interesting? Isn't it interesting that things make us feel different? That when someone dies, you feel sad, and your eyes cry? Why would something like that happen? Or when you are in love, your heart flutters. Or when you are sad, you feel like there is no hope in this cruel world of ours?

I think human emotion is fascinating. Anyone share the same thoughts?

 

[DotheDamnTHing]

we are complicated creatures

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: DotheDamnTHing
we are complicated creatures

I wonder if other animals can feel emotions like we can.

 

[l Xes l]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: DotheDamnTHing
we are complicated creatures

I wonder if other animals can feel emotions like we can.

duh.. we ALL are animals..

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: l Xes l

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: DotheDamnTHing
we are complicated creatures

I wonder if other animals can feel emotions like we can.

duh.. we ALL are animals..

You are right, but we are animals of different intelligence levels. Is the only reason we feel emotion is because we are "smarter" than monkies, birds, insects, etc? Or do they feel emotions just like we do, regardless of intelligence or not?

 

[dighn]

Definitely. On one hand you know it's just chemicals and signals going through your brain, on the other hand they are so real... it's mind boggling

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: jndietz
That when someone dies, you feel sad, and your eyes cry?

That or we express the emotion of happiness and laughter.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy

Originally posted by: jndietz
That when someone dies, you feel sad, and your eyes cry?

That or we express the emotion of happiness and laughter.

YES!

I have never seen a dog laugh, or a cat, or a fish, or a bird! Maybe it is intelligence after all.

But I wonder why it was us that was blessed with such things, and not every other creature.

EDIT: I never thought about a dog wagging it's tail.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: DotheDamnTHing
we are complicated creatures

I wonder if other animals can feel emotions like we can.

Um, ya? Ever see a dog wag its tail?

Granted our emotions are probably more complex.

 

[EvilYoda]

I thought you were referring to one of the shows on PBS tonight...it dealt precisely with whether or not animals had emotions and if so, if they were like human emotions. I love PBS.

 

[Murphy Durphy]

I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

 

[Skunkwourk]

I wonder if the loud ass cats outside are having a one nights stand or if they really love each other...

 

[AbAbber2k]

Originally posted by: Eghck
I wonder if the loud ass cats outside are having a one nights stand or if they really love each other...

Nope, just cat orgies.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Murphy Durphy
I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

Love increases the chances of survival. Propogation of the species is the number 1 priority.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: Murphy Durphy
I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

Love increases the chances of survival. Propogation of the species is the number 1 priority.

Yep... we learned that exact same phrase in Anthropology.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Interesting that this was posted now... im in a convo right now with a friends gf. Basically they broke up yesturday and im trying to make her feel better and stop the thoughts of suicide. Im already extremely depressed so I kindof know what its like. The whole thing is so confusing and ****** up that I have to keep drinking to be calm.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll
Interesting that this was posted now... im in a convo right now with a friends gf. Basically they broke up yesturday and im trying to make her feel better and stop the thoughts of suicide. Im already extremely depressed so I kindof know what its like. The whole thing is so confusing and ****** up that I have to keep drinking to be calm.

You probably shouldn't be drinking if you are trying to give meaningful advice to someone who is on the edge. Human emotion is really a double edged sword, happiness and sadness. It seems like sadness completely outweighs happiness though, I wonder why that is... meaning sadness seems to last so long, and happiness seems to last so short?

 

[AmdEmAll]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll
Interesting that this was posted now... im in a convo right now with a friends gf. Basically they broke up yesturday and im trying to make her feel better and stop the thoughts of suicide. Im already extremely depressed so I kindof know what its like. The whole thing is so confusing and ****** up that I have to keep drinking to be calm.

You probably shouldn't be drinking if you are trying to give meaningful advice to someone who is on the edge. Human emotion is really a double edged sword, happiness and sadness. It seems like sadness completely outweighs happiness though, I wonder why that is... meaning sadness seems to last so long, and happiness seems to last so short?

You are most likely correct but my neurves were through the roof and I could feel the anxiety building, liquer is the only thing that seems to calm that. Im not wasted or anything though, im coherent of my thoughts, for the moment anyway.

 

[cleanerupper]

Elephants are supposedly very emotional creatures. Being they have very large brains and all, hence the higher intelligence, they have feelings of sadness and happiness just like the rest of us. I'm sure it has something to with the number of brain cells. I remember seeing on a documentary about elephants a scene where they were actually crying about another elephant who got shot dead. They then proceeded to stampede the whole village. Very interesting stuff.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll
Interesting that this was posted now... im in a convo right now with a friends gf. Basically they broke up yesturday and im trying to make her feel better and stop the thoughts of suicide. Im already extremely depressed so I kindof know what its like. The whole thing is so confusing and ****** up that I have to keep drinking to be calm.

You probably shouldn't be drinking if you are trying to give meaningful advice to someone who is on the edge. Human emotion is really a double edged sword, happiness and sadness. It seems like sadness completely outweighs happiness though, I wonder why that is... meaning sadness seems to last so long, and happiness seems to last so short?

You are most likely correct but my neurves were through the roof and I could feel the anxiety building, liquer is the only thing that seems to calm that. Im not wasted or anything though, im coherent of my thoughts, for the moment anyway.

Well... please stop if at all possible Alcohol isn't a very good thing to be using especially when you are already stressed and depressed.

 

[cleanerupper]

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: AmdEmAll
Interesting that this was posted now... im in a convo right now with a friends gf. Basically they broke up yesturday and im trying to make her feel better and stop the thoughts of suicide. Im already extremely depressed so I kindof know what its like. The whole thing is so confusing and ****** up that I have to keep drinking to be calm.

You probably shouldn't be drinking if you are trying to give meaningful advice to someone who is on the edge. Human emotion is really a double edged sword, happiness and sadness. It seems like sadness completely outweighs happiness though, I wonder why that is... meaning sadness seems to last so long, and happiness seems to last so short?

You are most likely correct but my neurves were through the roof and I could feel the anxiety building, liquer is the only thing that seems to calm that. Im not wasted or anything though, im coherent of my thoughts, for the moment anyway.

From one human to another, please try to control the binge drinking in times of sadness. I know it seems like the only way to soothe the pain, but putting drugs into your body is only going to make things worse in the long run. I'm sure there's a lot of people on this board that could help you sort out your problems before you begin drinking. Keep your head high my friend.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: Murphy Durphy
I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

Love increases the chances of survival. Propogation of the species is the number 1 priority.

Yep... we learned that exact same phrase in Anthropology.

Wow. I just made that up.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: HamburgerBoy

Originally posted by: jndietz
That when someone dies, you feel sad, and your eyes cry?

That or we express the emotion of happiness and laughter.

YES!

I have never seen a dog laugh, or a cat, or a fish, or a bird! Maybe it is intelligence after all.

But I wonder why it was us that was blessed with such things, and not every other creature.

EDIT: I never thought about a dog wagging it's tail.

of course other animals experience emotions. it is pretty easy to tell the emotional state of a dog or cat. haven't you ever seen an unhappy or miserable or scared dog? versus a happy dog wagging its tale?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: Murphy Durphy
I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

Love increases the chances of survival. Propogation of the species is the number 1 priority.

Yep... we learned that exact same phrase in Anthropology.

Wow. I just made that up.

Yeah, don't you love it when you come up with stuff like that, and then it turns out that some professor somewhere got research grants and such to tell the public what you just theorized in your spare time?
Example of my own - dealing with why humans seem to like certain animals - was addressed in Wikipedia's Cuteness article. Basically, certain animals remind us of human infants, so that's why we are drawn to them. I theorized this probably while in the bathroom, walking to class, or in an otherwise mentally idle state. Apparently, a scientist devoted years to figuring this out.
Makes you wonder how many profound things are thought of by the many users of the world's toilets, but simply dismissed as idle daydreaming.

 

[BigPoppa]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: Murphy Durphy
I wondered the other day why we as humans need the emotion love, on an evolutionary sense. Every emotion we feel has a reason. Nothing is completely useless. Anyways, I came up with this:

We have "love" to keep us close to people. Without love, we wouldn't give a damn who we were with, and probably would live most of our lives as solitary beings. Why would we need to be close to people? Strength in numbers. So as an evolutionary tool to keep us in packs and to keep the species thriving, "love" was created. Nowadays, however, there is really no need to stay in packs. So like the tail bone, love often causes more problems than it fixes.

Love increases the chances of survival. Propogation of the species is the number 1 priority.

Yep... we learned that exact same phrase in Anthropology.

Propagation of my genes is number one priority.