What is It? How Can a Machine Exhibit It? "It's about thinking. The main theory is that emotions are nothing special. Each emotional state is a different style of thinking. So it's not a general theory of emotions, because the main idea is that each of the major emotions is quite different. They have different management organizations for how you are thinking you will proceed."

"Because the main point of the book [The Emotion Machine] is that it's trying to make theories of how thinking works. Our traditional idea is that there is something called 'thinking' and that it is contaminated, modulated or affected by emotions. What I am saying is that emotions aren't separate."
– Marvin Minsky. The Emotion Machine, book and draft, 2006.