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Author
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Topic: You vs. Your Brain?
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Mad Max
Sarge
Member # 622
Member Rated:
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posted 04-28-2005 11:49 AM
    
I was thinking about a couple of things the other night and I know I am oversimplifying matters but I thought it was interesting anyway.who is in control? You or your brain? I came to the conclusion that "me" the entity that has thoughts and whatnot is just along for the ride. Sure, I can wiggle a toe, jump over a fence, eat food...hell, I can even hold my breath for a while. Can I stop my heart though? Can I recall memories from long ago? I know some / all of them are there because certain actions trigger them. I understand that the issue of memory recall and search is different than, say, a full text catalog but my point is that the brain knows a lot of stuff that it doesn't tell us. There's a lot of "microcode" executed every day to keep our bodies running yet we don't even know what it is or how it all works. I know this is going to sound whacky but if our brain knows how everything in the body works, what it takes to keep things running, what measures to take when certain conditions are met, how come I don't know what they are? There are lots of examples I can think of, many dumb such as processing fat. People can take pills to stop fat being processes to help them lose weight. Wouldn't it be great if you could just manually control that process? People, such as me, who suffer from hay fever and have to take anti-histimines. Why do I need to do that? Should I, my brain, not be able to stop my body from producing histimine in the first place?!
I read in an article recently that said endorphins are 1000x more potent than morphine. Where are these endorphins stored and why can't I release them manually from time to time, just for kicks.  I want to pee really bad and I'm literally 5mins from home, why can't I control the pain? I KNOW that I will be in a position to pee in 5mins but it's like my brain doesn't trust me and keeps processing the signals from my bladder which results in an unpleasant feeling. I know it's a safety measure and I don't expect your bladder to stop sending the message but it would be more pleasant the message could be dealt with differently. Maybe the brain is a lot more automated than I think. If it is then it's quite unnerving to be sharing a body with this brain thing that is supposed to be me but without all the control. No, I'm not on drugs.  -------------------- Miss you guys.
Posts: 1487 | From: | Registered: Aug 1999 | IP: Logged
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Reality
Sarge
Member # 3135
Rate Member
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posted 04-28-2005 12:29 PM
One question: Did you or your brain cause you to post that? You know, if you were conscious(sp) of every little thing your limbic and reptilian brain did, you wouldn't have time to think about anything else like just where you were going to have lunch today or whether you were gonna roll tonight or break out the bong for a change. You know, the Important stuff.[ 04-28-2005: Message edited by: Reality ] -------------------- I once had a Quantum Car, but every time I looked at the speedometer, I'd get lost. - Heisenberg
Posts: 85 | From: livingroom | Registered: Sep 2004 | IP: Logged
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FS
Sarge
Member # 3053
Rate Member
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posted 04-29-2005 06:31 AM
There's a difference between Iain M Banks and Iain Banks.Sure, it's the same guy, but different genres. M is scifi, the rest is plain fiction. -------------------- quote:
Originally posted by FS:
Wow, I can't believe I'm agreeing with FS on this one
Posts: 649 | From: Finland | Registered: Jan 2004 | IP: Logged
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posted 04-28-2005 09:14 PM
