Ask A Scientist© Physics Archive

> >>  name       Carlos
> >>  status     student
> >>  age        20s
>
> >>  Question - This may seem a rather strange question...
> >>
> >>How is it that sensations (pain,joy,taste etc) exist?
> >>
> >>If you take a mechanical system ,can you construct feeling/sensation or
> >>is feeling/sensation derived directly from something fundamental?
> >>
> >>ie Is it, that it just is?
> >>  Or can it be shown to be a logical consequence of physics?
>
>
>Carlos,
>
>You can design physical systems that can be related in some crude ways to
>human senses. Touch, sight, hearing, taste, etc. Joy is not a physical
>sensation but an emotion, so we will avoid that topic altogether.
>
>Physical pain or pleasure can be thought of as merely genetic programming
>built around the physical signals that our sense organs transmit. If
>bitter things generally provided nourishment, and sweet things were
>poisons, humans and other animals long ago would have developed a liking
>for bitter tastes and an avoidance of sweets. The pleasure associated with
>mating is built in too, to encourage reproduction. Although we find
>freezing water extremely unpleasant, it is unlikely that fish living in
>Arctic waters are in a constant state of pain or discomfort. The senses
>generally provide the means for an organism to achieve survival and avoid
>damage or death, and the "good" or "bad" associated with certain sensations
>are instinctual to a large extent.
>
>Perhaps some will consider this an overly simplistic view of our being, but
>given the difficulty with implementing machines that can reproduce our
>abilities in even the crudest manner, I think it might suffice. The gap
>between a living being and a complex machine is very large for now, so I
>think it is premature to declare that we cannot just be very complex machines.
>
>When that gap is closed, whether a machine can experience joy, I do not know.
>
>Don
>
>Donald Yee Ph.D.               San Francisco Estuary Institute
>180 Richmond Field Station,     1325 South 46th St. Richmond, CA 94804
=========================================================

>It has been only very recently that the study of the physiological basis 
>for feelings and sensations [and other functions of the brain] has been 
>made possible. A new technology, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) makes 
>it possible to actually observe the chemical activity of various parts of 
>the brain when the individual has various disease conditions or is 
>experiencing various moods. Excellent reviews of PET can be found on the 
>Internet at: www.nuc.ucla.edu, www.triumf.ca/welcome/petscan.html
>www.musc.edu/psychiatry/fnrd/primer_spectpet.htm, and 
>www.crump.ucla.edu/lpp/lpphome.htm.
>
>
>Vince Calder
=========================================================
>I would put them as logical consequences of evolution. This is an old
>philosophical question addressed by Aristotle to the extent that how we
>perceive our environment is determined by what snses we possess...to
>paraphrase him...That we have eye, ears, a nose, and a tongue makes sight,
>sound, smell, and taste meaningful.
>
>PF
=========================================================