Random Thought of the Day

Quote: rxwine

I also read in the last week, with the new comet data, it turns out they stink. I suppose you need atmosphere for best results although astronauts have commented that space has a smell.

And napalm smells like victory.

I suppose the "smell" in space is re-circulating body odors.

Napalm only smells like victory in the morning... hehe

Both actresses playing Lois Lane in the original TV series are still alive. 88, 94. A couple Supermen not so lucky.

Why does the human body have so many pain sensors and so few pleasure sensors? It should be 50/50

Does stating that "this conversation is boring" mean you are forfeiting an argument?

Quote: petroglyph

Why does the human body have so many pain sensors and so few pleasure sensors? It should be 50/50

Strange that you should think so. Most organisms have sensors even one celled organisms spend most of their time sensing their environment and communicating about it with other one celled organisms, even if its just to/from light or to/from temperature gradients or to/from food source.

More complex organisms get more specialized functional areas that have sensors and communication but not pleasure sensors. You don't need an arm that is happy, you need an arm that can reach, grasp and punch. You don't need a leg that enjoys life, you need a leg that outrun a predator or atleast out kick it.

Quite often you may be injured but not feel it for quite some time... the brain has priorities.

Quote: Fleastiff

Strange that you should think so.

Just wishful thinking.

Quote:

the brain has priorities.

I understand it, but I don't like it. To me, there is a surprising lack of R&D into pain control. Maybe because there is so much $ in just treating the symptoms?

The direction I have seen lately is the conductor ran up the spinal cord and the electric pulse to interrupt the signal to the brain. I have met two people recently who are pleased with the results. Much better than the older ones that were hooked up externally, and just zapped a person [like the tens units]. I hated those, after spending thirty years trying not to get shocked.

I finally got me a date, this week. The anxiety is palpable.

edit; changed ten's to tens

Tens not Ten's.

Elderly patients are cash cows, so are pediatric patients.

Pain is highly subjective look how long RSD Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy was denied and sufferers branded malingering liars.

Pain is highly profitable. Look to "the fifth estate" in Canada for its analysis of why oxycontin became the heroin of rural America and originally was not a scheduled drug.

The brain is the largest sex organ and the most addicted organ. Think of detritus of bed bugs and human allergies... by sheer coincidence a certain part of the molecule has the same shape as the venom of a scorpion. Its GOOD to have your body react fast and furiously to scorpion venom... but bad to have it react the same way to bed bugs or dust mites.

Cocaine leaves were chewed on long hikes in the Andes. Cocaine had a very respectable name. Just as Chocolate means Food of the Gods. Pain relief was worshipped. Doctors don't worship pain relief, they worship pain management.

Quote: petroglyph

Why does the human body have so many pain sensors and so few pleasure sensors? It should be 50/50

When you add it up, maybe it is pretty close. Sensors in the mouth, eyes, skin, nose and ears are all capable of producing "pleasure" responses in the brain. Many of the same also produce pain. It's more how the brain sorts it out.

Pain receptors help keep you alive. Pleasure receptors help you reproduce. You only need that in one place. I suppose it helps if you enjoy eating, too.

Quote: Ayecarumba

When you add it up, maybe it is pretty close. Sensors in the mouth, eyes, skin, nose and ears are all capable of producing "pleasure" responses in the brain. Many of the same also produce pain. It's more how the brain sorts it out.

Good points. I never gave enough credence to those senses. There are smells I really enjoy as well as music I love. I hadn't considered the pleasure of say a good massage or caress. Yeah, your post helps.

Like you said about how the brain sorts it out, and certain people [masochists] seem to enjoy pain. Not me, I enjoy it less and less every year.