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Well we don't really understand the nature of "feelings", so the answers are going to be very speculative. But a better question might be: why do we feel conten

Well we don't really understand the nature of "feelings", so the answers are going to be very speculative. But a better question might be: why do we feel contentment at all? Why isn't it all just fear and rage all the time, with certain things lessening the fear and rage, like eating, pooping, and copulating? After all, if we avoid death and reproduce, the genes get passed on - evolution doesn't care about feelings. This entirely sidesteps discussion about the epiphenomenalality of conscious experience and how/whether it can be "causal" in any sense.

ggm 8y ago
"I don't want to die" has a pretty strong biological determinancy to it. It helps, mostly in adverse situations. Flipping over to "meh, who needs bodies" is inexplicable (to me)
- tempestn 8y ago
  Could be that once you've reproduced and sufficiently cared for your offspring, it's preferable that you don't waste resources on yourself. Contentment and even apathy could be beneficial (from an evolutionary perspective) at that point.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  There’s a moment where your brain switches from “fight for your life” to “I’m fucked, don’t bother trying to save me”. The I experienced when I nearly drowned once. I was very calm and ready to go. You can see it in videos of how to spot a drowning person.
  - dpwm 8y ago
    I am an anxious person. About a decade ago I was a passenger and at one point I was within about one second of almost certain contact with a vertical box section on a very slow moving vehicle. There was no way that my friend, and inexperienced driver, could brake in time. That one second was slow and I was unnervingly calm. Right at the last minute with probably less than 200ms to go, the driver very gently swerved and we must have avoided collision by less than two inches. Quarter inch if we include wing mirrors. My friend, the driver asked later why I didn't say anything. I explained that had I panicked, he would have panicked and we would probably both be dead.
    - mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
      I was driving 60 the speed limit on a rainy day in southern Cali when a truck appeared out of nowhere, spinning into my path. I had a very brief ‘oh shit, this could be the end of me and my wife ‘ moment and then I calmly swerved to the left into oncoming lane that was empty at the time. The back of my car clipped the spinning vehicle at probably full speed perhaps slower If I slowed down (I can’t remember if I did) and we spun a complete rotation and a half to end up on the oppoite side of the road facing the opposite direction. My wife went into full panic mode while I was as calm as I’d ever been for reasons unknown to me. I realized later had I panicked and waited a second longer to take action, we’d likely both be dead now. I don’t know if t all happened too fast or if my mind decided to stay chill instead of panicking, but I’m glad i did what I did and that there were no cars in the other lane.
arwhatever 8y ago
Contentment could just be the way that your physiology signals that your needs are met, and that there is no current need to expend energy.
mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
If you were always enraged that wouldn’t bode well for raising an infant to a self-sustaining age would it?

ggm 8y ago

"I don't want to die" has a pretty strong biological determinancy to it. It helps, mostly in adverse situations. Flipping over to "meh, who needs bodies" is inexplicable (to me)

tempestn 8y ago
Could be that once you've reproduced and sufficiently cared for your offspring, it's preferable that you don't waste resources on yourself. Contentment and even apathy could be beneficial (from an evolutionary perspective) at that point.
rangibaby 8y ago
There’s a moment where your brain switches from “fight for your life” to “I’m fucked, don’t bother trying to save me”. The I experienced when I nearly drowned once. I was very calm and ready to go. You can see it in videos of how to spot a drowning person.
- dpwm 8y ago
  I am an anxious person. About a decade ago I was a passenger and at one point I was within about one second of almost certain contact with a vertical box section on a very slow moving vehicle. There was no way that my friend, and inexperienced driver, could brake in time. That one second was slow and I was unnervingly calm. Right at the last minute with probably less than 200ms to go, the driver very gently swerved and we must have avoided collision by less than two inches. Quarter inch if we include wing mirrors. My friend, the driver asked later why I didn't say anything. I explained that had I panicked, he would have panicked and we would probably both be dead.
  - mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
    I was driving 60 the speed limit on a rainy day in southern Cali when a truck appeared out of nowhere, spinning into my path. I had a very brief ‘oh shit, this could be the end of me and my wife ‘ moment and then I calmly swerved to the left into oncoming lane that was empty at the time. The back of my car clipped the spinning vehicle at probably full speed perhaps slower If I slowed down (I can’t remember if I did) and we spun a complete rotation and a half to end up on the oppoite side of the road facing the opposite direction. My wife went into full panic mode while I was as calm as I’d ever been for reasons unknown to me. I realized later had I panicked and waited a second longer to take action, we’d likely both be dead now. I don’t know if t all happened too fast or if my mind decided to stay chill instead of panicking, but I’m glad i did what I did and that there were no cars in the other lane.

arwhatever 8y ago

Contentment could just be the way that your physiology signals that your needs are met, and that there is no current need to expend energy.

mrhappyunhappy 8y ago

If you were always enraged that wouldn’t bode well for raising an infant to a self-sustaining age would it?