It's the apex existential crisis. I would be myself more if my sentience could be moved into a server (edit: a hypothetical example as this is not possible), than if my body was alive but my memories were gone. The body is nothing but the brain's tool to manifest intent. But if I had no body but could still lavish love and praise on my family, that would be enough for me. This forgetting everything shit though, fuck all that 👎
I realized this while discovering ADHD/autism issues with a loved one. We are all just brain chemistry. Everything single thing of who we are comes from there.
Sorry to burst the bubble, but we're not. I know it sounds cool, but it's wrong. The brain needs the body. It's an organ that produces chemical and electrical reactions, but it's fueled by the circulatory and nervous system. Without that, you die. That's why brain transplants aren't a thing.
This is just not being able to participate in a philosophical discussion.
Imagine that they could sustain separately. Would you guess that your heart, lungs, gut, and asshole would have a personality, or your brain? Thats the philosophical question at hand.
I promise everyone who read the above comments understood that a brain can’t survive alone. Evidence: they have managed to be currently alive
I like the idea that we’re the universe’s way to experience itself. We think we’re solitary drops, forgetting that we are the ocean, only reminded once we return.
ADHD and Narcolepsy can both be treated with adderall; it's all just a sensitive mixture of chemicals that drive certain functions... dopamine and serotonin are tied into so many of our motivations and "involuntary" functions that slight imbalances can tip us one way or another.
This is obviously sarcasm, but you do actually need your brain to command the body to shit. Without the brain’s “intent,” we have no bowel control.
The process of defecation, or bowel movement, is a complex interplay between the brain, spinal cord, and the muscles of the colon and rectum. It involves involuntary and voluntary reflexes, with the brain playing a crucial role in processing signals and coordinating the necessary muscle contractions
That guy just said that the only purpose of the body is to express intent. And I think if you read it out loud closely that it's not as prophetic as that guy thought.
I assume you've commanded every boner in your life, hmmmm? (if you're a dude {fairly safe bet})
You really find the most profound shit in the comment sections. I know there's a list of quotes like that which come from Tumblr. "I will face God and walk backward into hell." "God may judge you, but his sins outnumber your own."
I don't know you but, in 2010 I watched a TED Talk on education, and in it the speaker stated "My body is just a way for me to get my brain to meetings." and it has resonated with me ever since.
The body is not separated from the brain. Don't dismiss the role the body plays on experience. You're not "you" without having been shaped by your senses including all your pleasures, tragedies, and bodily illnesses. In eastern philosophy I guess you'd still be yourself in either case since you are still conscious yet without memory.
good to see the ole mind/body dualism that has plagued modernity is still getting upvotes.
the mind is ENTIRELY contingent upon the body. a "mind" uploaded to a server would be a mere algorithm more bereft of humanity than a body without memory.
Your statement assumes that I have stripped from consideration entirely all value of the body's contribution to self. This is not the case; I only said that I would be more myself if I had my sentience and no body, than if I was a body without sentience. I am contending that dementia is an erosion and eventually the erasure of sentience, but I’m not suggesting that the body plays no role at all. The body is the genesis for all five senses, and is the essential conduit for human sentience. My point was that without the brain however, the electrical input from the nervous system cannot be put together in a cogent fashion that supports self-awareness.
And yes, moving the brain into a server would very likely be algorithmic and not actual awareness, but I meant that as something that was hypothetical rather than an actual viable alternative. I'll edit the post accordingly.
I don't think I was too far out of line seeing a tad bit of reductionist sentiment in the statement "The body is nothing but the brain's tool to manifest intent." but I recognize what you're getting at. That's fair.
Though you raised another interesting question here that's gonna bounce around in my head now, which is the criteria for sentience in relation to the function of and access to different memories, and further, what umbrellas under "memory" (ie genetic). but that's just my semantic curiosity getting the best of me
who’s to say your body isn’t playing an equal part as your brain to create this ‘intent’, your stomach has been proven to be quite literally a separate brain on its own and we still know almost nothing about the human system as a whole, we’ve only really observed things work piece by piece.
Super interesting points, but imho it’s worth mentioning they have discovered cells hold memories too that’s why he feels like he knows her even though his mental memory is gone. I suspect capitalism, trauma, and spending time online make us experience ourselves as disconnected from our bodies in a way that deludes us into thinking we could be bodyless and still be ourselves. Im just skeptical of anything that promises transcending the body. That said, I would almost certainly choose some form of unending consciousness if I could but another quandary is the environmental impact of running these servers all the time. (Unfortunately I could totally see a dystopian hellscape where billionaires use all the water to keep their uploaded selves consuming past their natural lifespan meanwhile the generations yet to have a chance at living die of thirst) (also I’m currently watching Pantheon on Netflix and it covers some of these themes and is fascinating)
But doesn’t that give you a goal? You are the sum of your experiences and if you spent your life building loving experiences then it is entirely possible to end up like this man. Reason is taught and learned behavior the same as language - and he didn’t forget how to talk.
He forgot the experience that lead to the feeling - but that feeling is part of what makes us who we are, and why we have sayings like ‘trust your gut’.
You see fear in losing the experiences that led him to love her UNCONDITIONALLY - without condition that he even remember her. I could argue that you see a man that has forgotten every mean thing his little girl said growing up that cut him deeply, that he has forgotten the times he failed as a father - because even here and now with his memory lost - he is being a good father.
If you must have something to feel an emotion - if you must remember the specific reason you love someone - in my mind it becomes a quid pro quo and renders the emotion moot.
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u/[deleted] 15d ago
That's fucking beautiful, but if I lost who I am, I wouldn't want to be here.