I was in a 382 mood; I had just dialed it.  So although I heard the emptiness intellectually, I didn’t feel it.  My first reaction consisted of being grateful that we could afford a Penfield mood organ.  But then I realized how unhealthy it was, sensing the absence of life, not just in this building but everywhere, and not reacting – do you see?  I guess you don’t.  But that used to be considered a sign of mental illness; they called it “absence of appropriate affect”.  So I left the TV sound off and I sat down at my mood organ and I experimented.  And I finally found a setting for despair.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Phillip K. Dick.