6 Reasons Why Emotion Is An Algorithm

Feelings are like thoughts without all that conscious cognitive effort!

1.

Thinking is hard, given all the information available to us through our five senses as well as myriad media channels that are increasingly easy to access at any time.

2.

That's why it's best to trust the limbic operating system that evolution has equipped us with to process information. Emotions are the output that our onboard processors have determined to be appropriate given all the data impacting us at any particular moment. This saves us the trouble from focusing too much conscious effort on any particular detail.

3.

The brain is a magnificent machine. Think of the brain as a motherboard and the various neurons as transistors and resistors in elaborately and elegantly designed imprinted circuits.

4.

Our brain wiring is "plastic" — but not literally! That just means its code can adapt to become more efficient at processing information to yield the best results for our survival. We can trust it to be environmentally responsive, like a well-tuned thermostat. Its algorithms take into account prior results to fine-tune future emotional outputs.

5.

If you don't like the way you feel, that's a good sign that you need to hack your brain's algorithms. Unfortunately, you can't simply slap in some new code or implement a Greasemonkey script. It's a little more complicated than that. But you can "reprogram" your mind to change the emotional output you experience by training it on repeated cycles of neuropathically optimized datasets. Consume as much formulaic content as you can, and your brain will "learn" the appropriate desired responses, and rewire itself accordingly.

6.

Above all, it's important to remember that we feel emotions in order to save ourselves time and thought, not to waste it. So don't worry too much about how you feel — just go with it!