Chapter 45
Boredom
People Affected: everyone
Type of Emotion: sensory coercion
Sensory Trigger: absence of excitement
Mental Effect: negative
Sensory Stop: excitement
Key Feature: effect grows stronger with time
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in men
Type of Emotion: sensory coercion
Sensory Trigger: absence of excitement
Mental Effect: negative
Sensory Stop: excitement
Key Feature: effect grows stronger with time
Key Feature: effect generally stronger in men
Purpose
Boredom encourages everyone to explore for new scenery.
Boredom provides additional motivation to explore, but only when necessary. Excitement always encourages you to explore. Boredom also encourages you to explore, but only when you have not explored recently. The alternative to temporary boredom is permanently stronger excitement, which would cause too much exploring. Exploring would always be better than sex.
Sensory Trigger
Boredom is triggered by the absence of excitement.
Boredom is not triggered by the absence of any stimulation. Large cities are full of stimulation. Despite this, urbanites become bored.
Mental Effect
Boredom encourages everyone to explore for new scenery.
Boredom provides additional motivation to explore, but only when necessary. Excitement always encourages you to explore. Boredom also encourages you to explore, but only when you have not explored recently. The alternative to temporary boredom is permanently stronger excitement, which would cause too much exploring. Exploring would always be better than sex.
Sensory Trigger
Boredom is triggered by the absence of excitement.
Boredom is not triggered by the absence of any stimulation. Large cities are full of stimulation. Despite this, urbanites become bored.
Mental Effect
Boredom varies with time. The longer you have been bored, the stronger the negative effect. Boredom is weakest just after returning from your last vacation. Boredom is strongest just before your next vacation.
Boredom grows stronger as necessary to ensure exploring. As boredom grows stronger, you are more motivated to overcome obstacles to exploring.
Solitary confinement also seeks to maximize the strength of boredom.
The scenic sensations are generally stronger in men. Excitement and boredom trigger stronger effects in men than women. Men are more interested in exploring. Men are less likely to sit still for hours.
The scenic sensations are stronger in men because lost male reproduction harms a group less. If a man dies exploring, other men can offset his lost reproduction. If a woman dies exploring, other women cannot gestate more to offset her lost reproduction.
Sensory Stop
Boredom is stopped by excitement. Boredom is stopped by taking a vacation or flipping through a glossy travel magazine.
Boredom can be temporarily masked by other emotions, but not stopped. Boredom does not stop if you start reading a good book. The drama of the book may trigger emotions that temporarily mask your boredom, but it returns when you stop reading.
Boredom grows stronger as necessary to ensure exploring. As boredom grows stronger, you are more motivated to overcome obstacles to exploring.
Solitary confinement also seeks to maximize the strength of boredom.
The scenic sensations are generally stronger in men. Excitement and boredom trigger stronger effects in men than women. Men are more interested in exploring. Men are less likely to sit still for hours.
The scenic sensations are stronger in men because lost male reproduction harms a group less. If a man dies exploring, other men can offset his lost reproduction. If a woman dies exploring, other women cannot gestate more to offset her lost reproduction.
Sensory Stop
Boredom is stopped by excitement. Boredom is stopped by taking a vacation or flipping through a glossy travel magazine.
Boredom can be temporarily masked by other emotions, but not stopped. Boredom does not stop if you start reading a good book. The drama of the book may trigger emotions that temporarily mask your boredom, but it returns when you stop reading.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.