Quote: (08-19-2016 11:23 AM)RichieP Wrote:
Quote: (08-15-2016 04:24 AM)Phoenix Wrote:
No depression is not a chemical imbalance. That's as meaningless as saying hunger is a chemical imbalance. Sounds more insightful whilst actually being less so.
Hunger is a signal that you need to eat food, and depression is a signal that you need to change something fundamental in your life.
Yes well said. It's a desciption, but it's not a useful one, and the implied solution ("add chemicals!") is not a valid inference.
Anyhoo, it's cool that this is being realized more and more by the people who actually *treat* depression.
Ah yes, the view of the human as it were a test tube. Everything reduced to chemicals.
interesting reading: Nozick and his 'experience machine'
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Nozick asks us to imagine a machine that could give us whatever desirable or pleasurable experiences we could want. Psychologists have figured out a way to stimulate a person's brain to induce pleasurable experiences that the subject could not distinguish from those he would have apart from the machine. He then asks, if given the choice, would we prefer the machine to real life?
Nozick also believes that if pleasure were the only intrinsic value, people would have an overriding reason to be hooked up to an "experience machine," which would produce favorable sensations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine