In a recent episode of RadioLab about Guts, they reported on a recent finding that massive doses of lactobacillus can lead to a calming effect during stress. At least, in mice. But some initial studies suggest that it might hold true for humans, too.
We've got, what, three pounds of non-us bacteria living within us? And we know that they have various symbiotic relationships with us, helping us digest food, and stuff like that -- but this suggests that gut bacteria can have effects on our personality. I mean, sure, the toxoplasmosis parasite can have effects on our personality, but that lives in the brain. Now we find out that things that live in our gut might, too?
It's becoming clearer and clearer that the very notion of "me" is not as clear as one might think it is. A person is a committee of not only our own glands and endocrine system, but apparently some of the critters that are just along for the ride get a vote, too.
So, let's say you upload your mind to a computer.
Then what?
Without your own personal mix of neurotransmitters and glandular stuff, it's not going to act like you. And, apparently, if you don't get the extra flora and fauna living within you right, too, it's ALSO not going to be you.
The more I learn about people, the less I know. The more I find out, the more complicated we seem. I just can't imagine that simply duplicating someone's brain would actually make a copy of the person, any more.
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- Xiphias Gladius (
xiphias) wrote,