I prefer being too cold, you can always wrap up warm but when it's too hot there's nothing you can do except lie down and want to die ... I don't deal with the heat well...
I don't Urm, I suppose when I chose it I'd been doing some reading on the use of lithium as a mood stabiliser, I think it's a pretty nice little word, it's easy to type and has several meanings and connotations. Just chose it pretty much at random though because I fancied a change from my old name (showmet).
Love is a complex set of hormonal and psychological effects that you choose to call love, it's a physiological illusion. I've experienced it. Its purpose of course is to get you to have children
Interestingly, the feeling of love is chemically indistinguishable from happiness. It's all seratonin and dophamine. But it is different, and it's more than words. Perhaps the attachment of happiness to an external and reciprocating being elicits a certain kind of selflessness implicit to love. Naturally love is a means to reproduction. But I like to think what sets us apart most from the other animals is the extent to which we have exceeded our natural programming. Some hippies seem to think we should get back to nature. Well, I'm sure they'll enjoy dying of smallpox at the age of thirty surrounded by a million children, but what is natural is not always what is good. Our ability to dominate nature brings with it benefits as well as risks, brith control being one great example. Anyway, back to happiness. When have you been happiest? What is your happiest memory?
Indeed, as the evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker famously said, humans have evolved to the point where we can tell our genes to "go jump in the lake". I'd agree with your analysis of the slightly Luddite tendency which sometimes goes along with hippydom, technology and human ingenuity is a great thing, and also necessarily a product of evolution. That's pretty much what I meant when I tried to convince you once that mobile phones were a product of nature, a concept I remember you having trouble with, but that might've been 'cos of the mushrooms ... homonym:tongue: Having trouble with this one Having been a depressive soul most of my life, the times I tend to remember are the bad times. They stick out in my mind far more than times when I was happy, but I must have been happy for at least some of the time. So I'll go with a bittersweet memory (which is also associated in my mind with loneliness and depression!) and that's my last year living in Paris. I was 18 and used to spend the weekends discovering the many tiny arthouse cinemas dotted around Paris, with my Officiel des Spectacles in hand, going to see loads of obscure little films. I loved finding these places in hidden corners of the city as much as I enjoyed getting to see so many great classics of cinema. Recently I was very happy when I unexpectedly gave a good lecture and seminar ... everything went perfectly and the students seemed to really enjoy it and actually learnt something
Do you really agree with that ? lol, I've been reading an educated student rather than a teacher since I first read you, apologies for that sir, first impression I suppose. What subjects do you give lectures in ?
I really don't remember the mobile phone conversation at all. But that night I was having trouble even grasping simple words....
That we have evolved to the point where we don't have to strictly obey our genetic coding? Yes. Contraception is a perfect example of that, and genetic engineering a glimpse of a future in which we can directly alter the very essence of humanity if we so desire... Of course we all still act according to the instincts passed down to us through our genes - they influence us in some subtle, and some not so subtle ways. But we are (or can be) at the very least, aware that these are biological impulses that we can sometimes choose not to obey. Hah, well I suppose you could say I straddle those two worlds (like a muscle-bound colossus ). I'm still battling through my thesis and lecture in literary history (mostly poetry) though my real interest is in contemporary fiction.
I think they were quite strong, it was that same batch that made me forget where I lived when I was just 100 yards away from my house...:tongue:
I'm of the opinion that because we think we believe we have the ability to control, but in fact our mind is actualy coded to think the necessary to match our genetic disposition. Who would you call your favourite poet, and at a stretch poem maybe ?
Hmm, I can't really see a mechanism by which our genes could code for thoughts. I think conscious thought is pretty much an accidental side-effect of the way we've evolved, and it introduces a random element. I do think free will is largely an illusion, but that's not the same thing as saying that the ability to manipulate our biology is something which is a purposive consequence of and necessarily beneficial to the genetic imperative for the survival of the species. Our genes influence the way we think and the kinds of things we think about, but I think it's clear that we are capable of transcending blind biological imperative, to an extent anyway. Genes are blind machines whose sole purpose is to replicate themselves. Intelligence and consciousness is a development which came about because it aids survival, but when we apply that intelligence to reducing the amount of offspring we have and allowing ourselves to enjoy the benefits of existence while avoiding the costs, it may well backfire in an evolutionary sense. The species may de-evolve as a result; or rather, this development may burn itself out if conscious intelligence proves to be less than the 'fittest' way of ensuring the pre-eminence of our genes... I hate to be a cliche, but off the top of my head I might say Blake or Wordsworth This one by Wordsworth has to be a contender... A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course With rocks, and stones, and trees.
Wish I was as good with words. I concur. Reminds me of The Levellers song "Elation". When listening to music do you have a preference for the lyrics or the music ? Who would be your favourite artist lyricaly ?
