[From Bill Powers (961015.1715 MDT)]
Martin Taylor 961015 16:00--
Bill, is it not true that you tend to ascribe emotion to situations of
failed control?
No. I attribute the degree of the somatic component of emotion to the degree
of error. Error signals are present in all control processes. I don't know
what you mean by "failed" control -- does control either "succeed" or "fail"
with no degrees between the limits? The amount of output that a control
system produces depends on the amount of error; if there were no error there
would be no output.
A control process that is using muscles requires physiological resources,
which must be supplied as they are used. A certain amount of activity can be
supported by the life-support systems near their base-level states, but for
anything sustained or unusually energetic, the somatic systems must be
adjusted, preferably a little in advance of the demand.
Since I do not attribute emotion to situations of failed control, the
remainder of any logical structure built on that premise is irrelevant.
Best,
Bill P.
[Martin Taylor 961015 20:00]
Bill Powers (961015.1715 MDT)]
Martin Taylor 961015 16:00--
Bill, is it not true that you tend to ascribe emotion to situations of
failed control?
No. I attribute the degree of the somatic component of emotion to the degree
of error. Error signals are present in all control processes. I don't know
what you mean by "failed" control -- does control either "succeed" or "fail"
with no degrees between the limits?
No, the degree of failure is the amount of error. I was obviously unclear,
but your answer makes clear that, as I intended the question, the first
word of your answer would be "Yes."
I used the term "failure of control" because one does not usually perceive
emotional concomitants of situations with error levels associated with
normal easy control, but one does when the errors are sustained or large,
the more so the greater or the more sustained the error. These are also
the circumstances in which reorganization is likely to be more important.
I did not intend to imply a threshold of error above which control has
"failed" and below which it has "succeeded", except in the most colloquial
sense.
Since I do not attribute emotion to situations of failed control, the
remainder of any logical structure built on that premise is irrelevant.
Since you attribute emotion to degrees of error, could you then evaluate
the rest of the (was it) "logical structure built on that premise"?
Martin