dh003i ([info]dh003i) wrote,
@ 2005-10-18 17:10:00
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Frostburn
I've just been handling stuff at -80 degrees Centigrade for a minute or so. We have shelves in our fridge, and one of them got jammed, so I was trying to put it in. Now, my first three fingers on my left hand have an intense burning sensation. Really, an interesting feeling. I wonder why it is that we find pain painful, and something to be avoided, and not just another feeling?

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[info]merccom
2005-10-18 09:28 pm UTC (link)
>>>I wonder why it is that we find pain painful, and something to be avoided, and not just another feeling?

so that mentally we understand that what were doing is bad for our body and that we should stop doing it as soon as possable.

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[info]smpte
2005-10-18 10:10 pm UTC (link)
It makes good sense from an evolutionary point of view. If we didn't react negatively to pain stimuli, we'd probably get ourselves badly hurt or killed much more often. Pain is usually associated with things that are dangerous to us.

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[info]dh003i
2005-10-18 11:20 pm UTC (link)
I understand the utilitarian value of feeling pain as a bad thing, to be avoided. However, we're civilized people, and can surely engage in rational thought. So, after something is done, and there is either pain or there isn't, why not choose to view the feeling as pleasant?

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[info]smpte
2005-10-18 11:32 pm UTC (link)
I think it's for the same reason. If we could reinterpret pain thusly, we would do it too often, and our species would have gotten into trouble as we did painful and damaging things in the struggle to survive rather than find less painful and less damaging means to accomplish the same goals.

With technology we found a way around pain, in the form of anesthesia, though we're rational enough to use it sparingly and under controlled circumstances.

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Pain
(Anonymous)
2006-03-22 10:56 pm UTC (link)
Well, people into S & M type sex do interpret pain as pleasure, but this takes some degree of mind over matter and one must still recognize certain limits to avoid serious injury or death. But generally speaking, as others have pointed out, we are wired to interpret the sensation of certain things that are bad for our bodies as unpleasant. Things like orgasms are extremely pleasant because, well, God or nature wants us to have lots of sex and reproduce ourselves and sex helps us bond with other humans, which is useful.

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