• Poogona [he/him]
      ·
      7 hours ago

      It's not thought at all. It's the experience of vicarious pain. It might even be the basis for our social tendencies. Best example I know of are neurological studies that suggest that witnessing footage of someone getting stabbed forces you to experience at least a tiny, compartmentalized version of the stabbing, even feeling it in the same spot. It's probably one of the most fundamental parts of the human experience but I personally don't understand it as something I do rationally, but in a good way, if that makes sense?

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      13 hours ago

      It isn't and never has been. Making decisions under pretense of no emotions is itself an emotional decision. There's no escape and attempting to be emotionless is just selective blinders and contempt.

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Reminds me of a study I once read where they used drugs to suppress emotions in rats.

        The rats all basically lost all desire to do anything, including eating and basic hygiene.

        • DragonBallZinn [he/him]
          ·
          11 hours ago

          Seconded, as someone who’s struggling with depression that’s what it feels like. Not just “the big sad” but more like “the big nothing”.

          I would not wish “no emotions” on anyone, not even my worst enemy.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          13 hours ago

          Contempt for emotion and a desire to LARP as a computer are both emotional impulses, as I constantly remind such Reddit-brains.