This is an enlightening book. Initially I thought the view of emotions to be presented here was going to provide a slight perspective shift – a useful way of understanding emotions. Well, it goes way, way further than that. This book changes everything. Maybe.
At the centre of this title, by Lisa Feldman Barret, is the theory of constructed emotions. According to this theory, our brains use past experiences organised as concepts to guide actions and give our sensations meaning. From this seemingly simple idea the author goes on to reveal how our emotions colour how we perceive reality and how this affects everything from our health, laws and who we are.
So what of it? What can we learn from this view? The lesson here is that we are responsible for our own concepts and hence our own view of reality. Think about that. We have the power and responsibility, as individuals, to create better and healthier lives for ourselves and other people, beyond our current circumstances. How?
This may sound crazy but: eat well, do some regular exercise, try yoga, meditate, take walks, get a plant maybe, watch a movie and read good books…like this one. The idea is that the separation between our mental and physical lives is porous. Our brains are embodied beyond the skull and affect our experiences and that of others.
The book also does a good job of poking holes in a lot of popular science publications about how the brain is organised and how it works. These ideas are hard to kill because they are so pervasive and they seem so intuitive as to be obvious to most. Things are a tad bit more complex than we would like to admit/can handle.
I do think this is a revolutionary theory that can change everything if even a fraction of the claims and speculations in the book are correct. Fantastic and mind expanding read.
There’s a lot of speculation in here, the author makes that abundantly clear, but the implications are massive. I can see how applying the insights here can have a major impact on how we approach our lives and circumstances and how we approach AI and the future of humanity.
