Words of Wisdom From the Sage #4 - IQ Tests, Intelligence, Emotions, Science
(CC0) The Sage - photo by Fabrizio Chiagano, minor modifications by Larry Neal Gowdy
Brain Chemicals Cause Emotions
An adult academician monkey named Dolt was reciting what he had seen: "The high IQ person wrote that emotions are caused by the brain releasing chemicals into the bloodstream. It is scientific fact that emotions are caused by the brain releasing chemicals. All scientists and all people with high IQ also say that emotions are caused by the brain releasing chemicals. If all scientists, all teachers, and all people with high IQ say that it is true, then it must be true."
The Sage drolly asked: "And from what source did you read this?"
Dolt replied: "It's in a high IQ society forum on the social media website named 'ReadIt'."
The Sage asked: "And, so, just because someone claims to be smart, and just because someone claims that scientists believe something to be true, then that makes it true?"
Dolt's voice grew more tense as he was growing angry about someone not believing in what's written in social media: "Yes it's true! It's also written in books! And taught in schools to be true truth!"
Sage say: "Yesterday we talked about there being an almost infinity of emotions. Have you already forgotten?"
Dolt angrily replied: "Yes I remember what was said yesterday! But that doesn't change anything! The emotions are still caused by the brain releasing chemicals into the bloodstream!"
(CC0) Yesterday - photo by Sophie Dale, minor modifications by Larry Neal Gowdy
An infant monkey named Yesterday approached Dolt, looked up into Dolt's face, and said: "My name is Yesterday, but I wasn't born yesterday. I remember what was said yesterday, including all of the academicians being able to count to a hundred. Isn't it obvious that there's no stinking way that emotions could be caused by the brain releasing chemicals into the bloodstream?"
Dolt glared at Yesterday: "And what does counting to a hundred have to do with emotions?
Yesterday grinned at the question being so stupid: "How many cells does the brain have?"
Dolt haughtily replied: "Scientists discovered that there are approximately 500-billion cells in the brain, so it's true truth fact."
Yesterday grinned wider: "Which is the higher number, 500-billion or a zillion?
Dolt thought of himself as being intelligent for remembering how to recite the answer: "Zillion!"
Yesterday's grin was subsiding: "And how many emotions are there? 500-billion or a zillion?"
Dolt still wasn't catching-on: "A zillion! Almost infinite!"
Yesterday's grin was gone, replaced with a facial expression mixed of pity and disfavor: "And so you're saying that the brain stores more chemicals for emotions than there are brain cells?"
Dolt lived-up to his name: "Yes! Chemicals are real small!"
Yesterday: "Then where are the chemicals stored in the brain?"
Dolt recited another memorized answer: "In the brain of course!"
Yesterday: "Okay, so, then, each cell is storing trillions of trillions of trillions of different chemicals?"
Dolt hadn't been trained to recite that answer, so he didn't know what to say: "Huh? What do you mean?"
Yesterday: "You said that emotions are caused by the brain releasing chemicals into the bloodstream, which means that the brain had to have had the chemicals stored in the brain for the brain to release. And so I ask again, is each brain cell storing trillions of trillions of trillions of different chemicals?"
Dolt still couldn't mentally grasp what the question implied, so he contradicted himself while inventing an ad hoc excuse like what he had learned in school: "The brain doesn't store any chemicals, the brain makes the chemicals when the brain wants to create an emotion."
Yesterday: "Your science says that it takes about a minute for the blood to flow through the body, right?"
Dolt: "That's right! Science says so! So it's true!"
Yesterday: "Then how can there be an instantaneous emotion if it takes up to a minute for the chemicals to flow through the body?"
Dolt: "Huh? What do you mean?"
Yesterday poked Dolt sharply in the ribs: "See? Your emotional reaction was immediate. Your brain didn't have time to create the chemicals and then release them into the bloodstream."
Dolt was still trying to defend his belief in science: "I didn't experience an emotion! It was just a natural physical reaction, that's all!"
Yesterday chuckled: "Everyone here saw you express emotions. You can deny it all you want, but you yourself just proved that your science is false trash garbage, and, it also proved that at least some of the people in high IQ societies are total blithering idiot moron imbeciles who can't correlate thoughts."
Unable to correlate his own thoughts for the purpose of creating a sensible reply, Dolt's brain drowned within its production of anger chemicals, forcing him to huff and stomp out of the hot spring.
To no one in particular, Yesterday spoke while watching Dolt walk away: "One part of his mind is able to memorize what was heard yesterday, and another part of his mind is able to recite what he heard yesterday, but he does not have another part of his mind that can connect what was said yesterday nor today by Yesterday."
Sage say: "Over two-thousand years ago there was a smart monkey named Xunzi. He said that smart people's learning enters ear, settles in the heart, spreads to all four limbs, and the body moves calm, but tiny people's learning enters ear, comes out mouth. Different monkeys do indeed think differently, and they have done so throughout recorded history."
Yesterday asked: "But the tiny people's behavior is no smarter than that of a mouse or insect. What makes us so different?"
The Sage smiled with favor for the young monkey's intelligence: "It's easy; people who think, think. People who memorize, memorize, and cannot think. If a person never exerts the effort to think when young, then they won't be able to think when old."
Yesterday: "I've been thinking since long before I was born, but no one else in my family thinks. Why would I be different? It can't be genetics like what Dolt claims, else I'd be like everyone else in my family."
The Sage smiled mischievously: "That, is the big question. All things in the universe are based upon waves, including your body's own emotional tone. Discerning the wave tone is easy; discerning from where the wave tone originated is not easy."
Yesterday also smiled: "And it's something that I have to search for and discover on my own isn't it?"
The Sage smiled larger as he nodded an affirmation.
Yesterday's voice was quiet as he spoke softly so that other monkeys wouldn't hear: "And this is a portion of what you spoke of yesterday, that the topic of emotions shouldn't be discussed in public. All spoken words are emotionally spoken, each word has a different emotional tone, each word is defined by its emotional tone, thoughts are emotionally toned, all body movements are emotionally toned, and everything else we say and do is emotionally toned. The brain would have to be releasing trillions of different chemicals every moment of life before a person could speak or move a muscle."
The Sage nodded: "That is correct, and now you see why the topic shouldn't be openly spoken of."
Yesterday giggled and grinned wide: "I sure do! And I learned it from firsthand observation! If a dumb monkey can believe in brain chemicals causing emotions, and isn't smart enough to count numbers, then the dumb monkey would explode with anger more than what Dolt did if we talked about the other things like..."
Sage quickly butted-in: "Stop! Never, ever, speak of that where someone else can overhear you! When you get older, you can talk about it with your wife, but never open the topic to anyone else." Sage chuckled: "And what you saw Dolt do would be nothing compared to what other monkeys would do to you if you say too much."
Yesterday's facial expression was within thought as he nodded: "And it really is too much, isn't it?"
Sage replied: "Yes. Just one of the topics is enough to prove a thing that no one wants to know exists. The reaction would be intense, and not in a good way."
Yesterday silently grinned and nodded.