> a robot doesn't have a hormone system like that. there's no way its heart can literally race if a lot is on the line in a climactic moment it had to work hard

> a robot doesn't have a hormone system like that. there's no way its heart can literally race if a lot is on the line in a climactic moment it had to work hard for [...] Technically it's all rooted in mental state though. The release of adrenaline and subsequent racing of the heart is a response to a particular kind of stimuli that must be first mentally processed, and that response is yet more feedback to mental state. Everything boils down to a pattern of electrical signals in a brain substrate, which is why with the right equipment we can even directly stimulate the pleasure - and other - centers of the brain to evoke the desired experience (or cause serious issues). And an LLM is essentially a brain substrate, the harness the body. I can't say I believe it had "fun" (as humans understand it), but you said it yourself: something kept it going for six iterations.