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Opinion I Don’t Share Often But Will Share Here Because Barely Anybody Reads This And So The Hate Mail Is Likely To Be Manageable
I believe that the following quote will sound patently absurd a few hundred years from now when we have a more complete understanding of neuroscience and our own biology:
"I look at all the emotions I'm feeling, which are anticipation, exhilaration, focus, confidence, fun, and fear. Then I take fear and say, ‘well, how much priority am I going to give this? I really want to do this.’ I put it where it belongs.”
- Excerpt from Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans
Our emotions are largely the result of chemical reactions. In the future, it will sound crazy to say something like "I put fear where it belongs." Instead, we'll have more precise language, and say things like "my x levels surpassed my y levels momentarily, which caused me to do z."
We already say things like "my adrenaline was pumping," and I believe this will only get more and more precise as our knowledge (and vernacular) expands.
I don't mean to say that how we speak about our emotions today isn't insightful or useful (it's all we've got!), only that it will evolve dramatically and that the romantic will be replaced by the scientific.
This opinion ties directly into my belief that free will is an illusion, but I'll save that for another email!