Poll: Emotions and such.

[Cheesus333]

Having seen the Tranquil from Dragon Age, I can see the appeal of becoming a single-minded automaton... buuuuuuuut I kind of like art and elation and all that stuff that requires emotions. Besides, I like to ponder the bigger philosophical subjects in my mind time [footnote]A term I coined just now meaning time alone with my thoughts without other distractions, such as walking or conscious sleeping.[/footnote] and I don't think I could if I were emotionally devoid.

 

[Light 086]

Life without emotions would suck. You can't enjoy life(which is short enough already) and more importantly you would have no purpose in life. Goals and achievements require motivation and the desire to do so, which is emotional. Those without emotion might as well commit suicide, not that it would bother them (the unfeeling bastards that they would become).

 

[katsumoto03]

No. We would give away everything that would make life worth living. It would eliminate any relationships we have, erase our ability to create art. We could never love, sing, smile.

I would sooner die a thousand painful deaths rather than even having my emotional capacity numbed.

 

[Scarim Coral]

If I choose to remove my emotion then I will truly be cold toward others and no longer view myself to be a human being (to me that is a bad thing).

 

[Sun Flash]

Getting rid of emotions makes logical sense, technical productivity would increase ten fold.

But then I'd lose the very essence of humanity, I wouldn't enjoy anything. ever. Not just things like love, but all the littke quirks of life, like just catching the bus at the very last minute, feeling a nice breeze on a warm summers day, sharing a smile with the old lady you pass in the street. heck, pictures of kittens would have 0 effect on me. I'd be no better than a Cyberman.

so y'know, fuck that with a big pointy stick.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Emotions are the meaning of human life.

So no. I'd like to keep them.

 

[HonorableChairman]

I wouldn't consider greed as an emotion, merely a compulsion caused by other emotions. Without emotions, we would all be robots going about our daily lives with maximum efficiency since there would be no emotion to get in the way (jealousy, anger, depression). Does a computer need emotion to do its work? No, it doesn't even need a mind of its own and its more efficient than us.

Also, if we're talking about pure efficiency and nothing else, we wouldn't even need art or miss having it. Art is used to satisfy others and express oneself, causing happiness adn releaseing stress. We wouldn't need to with no emotion.

By extension, no emotion means not being able to form opinions, meaning there would be no disagreements between humans. Can you see why I might think that humans would be more efficient and encounter less problems if we weren't constrained by emotions? (although life would be horrible)

Very false. If there are no emotions, there is no motivation. All actions are fueled by an emotional impulse, even if that emotion is simply that of preservation-based desires. Without motivation, there is no action, and the lack of action is just about as inefficient as you can get.

 

[Rusman]

Right at this moment; yes. My girlfriend just broke up with me.
All other times; probably not. Usually have more happiness in my life than sadness so I'd lose all those feeling.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

You ever seen 'Equilibrium'. I'm in no rush to end up like that, lemme tell ya.

 

[Hader]

I don't see how anything good is going to come out of the lack of any and all emotion, so...no.

 

[BreakfastMan]

No, I would not get rid of my emotions. Emotions are part of what makes us human. If we do not have emotions, what are we? Some of the greatest works of art were created because of emotion or to display emotion. If we do not have emotions, we are no better than computers.

 

[Denamic]

Being without emotions is what's called being a psychopath.

You raise a good point, but answer me this: why are animals, which are incapable of emotion or rational thought, able to act and survive? And if you think about it, they are more efficient than us, for they have no emotion to interrupt their cycle of eat/sleep/reproduce until they die (as is the point of all life).

Seriously?
No emotion?
No rational thought?
Clearly, you have never had a dog.

 

[jawakiller]

But I like the ability to stare at boobs and get a health bonus... Or have the "*****" option on the conversation bubble. Shepard can't do that. (well actually he does but it doesn't count cuz its apart of the story.) If I wasn't such a negative person well life would really suck.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Having had a couple of years of severe depression, no. That is essentially time spent sans emotions, and it sucks.
Without emotional input, you have no drive to do anything at all. I spent days literally just waking up, sitting in a chair for most of the day, and going to bed again.
Obviously you don't realise how much it sucks at the time, but seriously, you end up doing nothing at all, and not thinking there's any problem with it.

You know in Serenity, the entire planet of people dead purely due to having lost the drive to eat, breathe, anything? Yeah, it's like that. Not cool.

 

[Togs]

not without, just completely in control of them/able to suppress without the the turmoil that creates

 

[luclin92]

i wish i had some real emotions.

 

[norwegian-guy]

It's a little difficult. On one hand I can imagine how it could benefit sciense and philosophy to be completley rid of emotions and have all decissions based on logic and rationality.
On the other hand, in tests it has shown that people with the psychological state that they lack emotions, or the understanding of their emotions are, with lack of better words: ethical crippeled. In the abovementioned test the people was asked the question if they would kill their own child if it was to a larger benefit. Almost none of the people with the normal emotional situation said no, more than half of the people with lack of emotions said yes.

i wish i had some real emotions.

You have. You wish, thus you have desire. Everyone that dosen't have emotions(or as one theory states, that everyone has, but some are completley unaware of them)have some kind of psycholical state. Considering how most of these can work perfectly normal I won't say it's a psychological handicap. (A psycologist would be more suited to talk about this)
But short answer: You wish, so you have emotions.

 

[ModsDeleteThisAccountPlease]

Yes. They aren't allowed to be expressed in my family, or shouldn't be at least. To immature for a child once he's past the age of 12. It's a shitty existence, but than again, I grew up with it.

 

[9Darksoul6]

It's very utopic, but yes, if done correctly, life without emotions would be better.
Emocions make just as much sense as drugs in you life.
It a mental over-reaction that degenerates your judgement, gives you a false sense of happiness, brings more pain than it should, and people get addicted to it to the point of saying they couldn't live without them.
Movies live Equilibrium are just plain stupid because the anti-emotion guys always express emotions (like fear, impatience, discust, anger, etc.).