Tim Cook wrote:
> But the external stimulus is necessary for it to occur.  (Semantics, what?)

Does it? One can feel guilty without external stimulus, I'm sure. Certainly 
one can be trained to feel guilty without specific per-occurrence 
corroboration.

> This is nihilism, to some degree.  While it is perfectly understandable 
> on an intellectual level, even if they're suppressed, ignored, or 
> rationalised away, emotions do rear their ugly heads from time to time.

Occasionally, sure. But certainly you can eliminate the emotions the 
criticisms are intended to elicit well enough that your reaction is not "I 
got embarrassed once, so I'll never try again."  Especially if you're 
expecting rejection and just hoping for the best.

>>> Variances in brain chemistry only serve to augment things (even if 
>>> vastly), not spontaneously generate from whole cloth.
>> I haven't any idea what that has to do with the topic.
> 
> The popular supposition goes that people with depression, psychoses, et 
> cetera, are that way *because* of having different brain chemistry, 

Sure.

> hence Prozac, other antidepressants, and antipsychotics.  In a way, 'the 
> chemicals *are* the emotions', or at least to the extent that they can 
> be altered with other chemicals.  To which I disagree--the chemicals 
> facilitate augmentation of emotions, but are not in themselves the cause 
> thereof.  

I'm sure there's both chemicals that facilitate augmentation of emotions and 
chemicals that cause the emotions themselves. And I'm sure many of the 
prescribed drugs are completely unnecessary. :-)  I.e., I'm sure there are 
many people whose depression has a chemical cause, and many people who are 
prescribed anti-depressants merely because they're having a crappy life.

> Re: the topic, this is to say that even the stimulus of brain 
> chemistry is an 'external' factor.

Oh, alright.  I'm not sure I'd count the levels of neurotransmitters in my 
brain as "external" to my state of mind, but OK.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Understanding the structure of the universe
    via religion is like understanding the
     structure of computers via Tron.

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