Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

372 I HOW THE MIND WORKShighest centers. The amygdala in turn sends signals to virtually everyother part of the brain, including the decision-making circuitry of thefrontal lobes.The anatomy mirrors the psychology. Emotion is not just running awayfrom a bear. It can be set off by the most sophisticated information processingthe mind is capable of, such as reading a Dear John letter or cominghome to find an ambulance in the driveway. And the emotions help toconnive intricate plots for escape, revenge, ambition, and courtship. AsSamuel Johnson wrote, "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is tobe hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."I he first step in reverse-engineering the emotions is try to imagine whata mind would be like without them. Supposedly Mr. Spock, the Vulcanmastermind, didn't have emotions (except for occasional intrusions fromhis human side and a seven-year itch that drove him back to Vulcan tospawn). But Spock's emotionlessness really just amounted to his being incontrol, not losing his head, coolly voicing unpleasant truths, and so on.He must have been driven by some motives or goals. Something musthave kept Spock from spending his days calculating pi to a quadrilliondigits or memorizing the Manhattan telephone directory. Somethingmust have impelled him to explore strange new worlds, to seek out newcivilizations, and to boldly go where no man had gone before. Presumablyit was intellectual curiosity, a drive to set and solve problems, andsolidarity with allies—emotions all. And what would Spock have donewhen faced with a predator or an invading Klingon? Do a headstand)Prove the four-color map theorem? Presumably a part of his brainquickly mobilized his faculties to scope out how to flee and to take stepsto avoid the vulnerable predicament in the future. That is, he had fear.Spock may not have been impulsive or demonstrative, but he must havehad drives that impelled him to deploy his intellect in pursuit of certaingoals rather than others.A conventional computer program is a list of instructions that themachine executes until it reaches STOP. But the intelligence of aliens,robots, and animals needs a more flexible method of control. Recall thatintelligence is the pursuit of goals in the face of obstacles. Without goals,the very concept of intelligence is meaningless. To get into my locked