Day: July 13, 2022

This week we watched three different episodes from very different series that deal with the implications one’s mind and body deal with. Although each episode was so different in its setting and story, they all seemed to deal with the question of whether or not the mind and body work in tandem or on the contrary that the mind(brain) creates its own cognition.  This was my first time watching any of these shows and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed each episode. 

In the first show Star Trek “Return to Tomorrow” the mind is depicted as something that stands on its own. At 10:00 minutes the crew comes in contact with the sphere that holds the mind and essence of a past physical being of Sargon. Furthermore, Sargon reveals that he was once a physical being just like the crew. Although it seems that the episode is opposing the idea that in order to be truly cognitive one must have more than just a mind, viewers quickly see that Sargon only feels truly alive and conscious once he enters the body of the captain. It seems that this episode resides on the side of 4e cognitive beliefs. In order to be fully cognitive, a being needs more than just a mind. It needs to be immersed in culture, relationships, physical senses etc. 

On the contrary the episode of Futurama “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” depicts the brain as a stand alone entity. As the brain invades Earth, Fry must defeat the essentially “mother brain” and through doing so the brain reveals that them and their kind have evolved past the point of needing a body. Meaning that the brain itself is the physical being and therefore tells Fry “we have long since evolved beyond the need for asses”. Because the brain doesn’t have a body Fry can’t physically fight it, he instead has to fight it with his brain and his thoughts. I found this to be a very cool theme. It helps viewers to understand and differentiate the mind and body. The episode ends with Fry trapping the brain in a book even further supporting the notion that the brain itself was the entirety of that being. 

Lastly, Altered Carbon on Netflix deals heavily with cybernetics. This show was quite freaky. Moreover, it delves into the possibility of a society where your consciousness is contained in a chip-like device. With that, so long as the chip is not harmed, you can switch bodies. The main character, Takeshi, goes through just that. In the beginning of the episode we see this character played by a different actor in the past scenes than the current scenes. This show seems to follow a belief different than that of the Star Trek episode and more similar to the Futurama episode. The belief portrayed in this show depicts cognition as something that is contained in a chip not a body or a brain. I felt that cognition was being shown as something that is tangible. 

In the three episodes we had to watch this week, the ideas relating to the body, mind, and soul are explored through the characters and plot. In the Futurama episode “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid”, the idea of the brain being its own entity was depicted throughout, demonstrating the different ideas relating to Cartesian Dualism  In one the beginning scenes (6:25), Leela is being chased by the brain spawn invading Earth. The brains did not speak, nor did they show any evidence of being able to communicate verbally (besides the Giant evil brain), they were still able to move around on their own accord without the need of a body. This ties in with the  “ghost in a machine” mentality when thinking about the consciousness/soul of a person, as we were seeing the ghost without the machine. In a scene later on in the episode (16:01), Fry and Leela find the big evil brain in the library. He says to them “ we have long since evolved beyond the need for asses”, showing how he is able to exist on his own and looks down upon the humans who are stuck in their physical bodies. This is similar to how Cartesian Dualism was described as the mind being separate from and elevated above the body, as we see the Brains tend to float above the humans in the episode. Fry is able to defeat the evil brain at the end of the episode by physically writing a new story and trapping the brain inside, which calls into question the limits of the so-called “ghost” or evil brain when it isn’t connected to a “machine”. 

In Netflix’s Altered Carbon, Kovac’s introduction to the world has him grappling with his past self and the new body that he now inhabits. In the scene (11:59) where he and the other people who received new sleeves are receiving an orientation on their new bodies, it gives us insight on how the characters view the mind and the body. The society built in this tv show expresses the importance of a mind/soul over a body. It seems that the physical bodies are not valued as a person’s consciousness is stored within a what they call a stack, located within a person’s spine.

The lady tells Kovac and the rest of the people that “inside is pure human mind, coded and stored as DHF: Digital Human Freight. Your Consciousness can be downloaded into any stack, in any sleeve. You can even needle cast in minutes to sleeve anywhere in the Settled Worlds. A sleeve is replaceable, but if your stack is destroyed, you die. There is no coming back from real death”. Death seems to only become a reality when the stack is involved, whereas the physical body, or sleeve, is replaceable. Similar to the Futurama episode, there is a distinction made between the body and the mind. The fact that people’s consciousness are not restricted to one sleeve, or in this case a singular lifetime, shows that the mind is able to function and continue on once its current body has run its course. In this scene, the show uses high technology graphics to demonstrate the complexity and mechanics behind the stacks that are placed within the bodies. This parallels the idea of Cybernetics, and how the stack, or mind, is the software and the sleeve is the hardware. Also, just as a computer stores information, the stack stores the memories of a person’s past life as well as the traits that make up their identity. 

In the Star Trek episode, they seemed to take a different approach on how the mind and body are connected, and explore how the body plays a bigger part than some may expect. When Sargon enters Kirk’s body for the first time to demonstrate his abilities (11:57), he notes the physical sensations that he experiences being back in the human form. He can feel the air in his lungs and his heart pumping, and explains that he misses experiencing those things. This is an example of Embodied cognition, as his consciousness and soul seemed incomplete when he was trapped inside the receptacle. This is seen again later on when Henoch is taunting Thalassa about placing her consciousness inside of a robot while she is currently inside of a human body (31:24). He tells her “In two days, you will have hands of your own again Thalassa. Mechanically efficient and quite human-looking. Android robot hands, of course. Hands without feeling. Enjoy the taste of life while you can”. The idea of Embodied cognition is being reinforced by Henoch, as he doesn’t view his existence as full without a live body to experience life through. In the lecture it was discussed that “ a body is not something you have; it is something you are”, and without that body your soul may not be completely whole. Later on Sargon states that  “We need your bodies so that we may live again”, leading us to think that living involves interacting physically with other life, and not just existing as a consciousness. From this episode, cognition is represented as extended as well, especially with the relationship between Sargon and Thalassa, who are husband and wife. Their consciousnesses remained together for many years, but they weren’t able to really connect until they were inside other people’s bodies and could physically touch each other again. 

Episodes blog #2

In Altered carbon Out of the past Takeshi Kovacs wakes up resurrected 250 years after he had died.  What it is interesting is the body is referred to as a sleeve. The scene in the beginning where there is a body floating in a dark fluid and then you see the body breathing heavily as he rises to the surface. You see a shadow of a nude body. The woman he is with is seen cleaning and stacking cortical stacks they have collected. A cortical stack is basically people’s minds downloaded into these.  The mind can be put into any “sleeve” or body. Takeshi was sent into the future to solve his own murder.  Showing the mind and his sixth sense is a very powerful thing. To compare this to what we have learned it is like Cartesian Dualism: The mind body split.  It is said that the mind is separated from the elevated above the body.  Plato believed the mind and soul were imprisoned in the body. I think this episode seems to metaphorically stand for the mind is thought as a computer with software and the body is the hardware. The body is the vessel transporting important information from the brain.

In Star Trek Return to Tomorrow The starship meet Sargon who has telepathic powers and tells them to arrive at his planet where he and two others are the last surviving of their kind.  Their minds have been stored in spheres.  In need of human bodies Sargon transfers his mind in Kirk’s body and then kirks mind into this sphere. The bodies again comparing to the first episode are just vessels and the mind is the power.  The transferring into the bodies can be exhausting.   Henoch begins to prepare a serum as kirks body becomes weaker, he requires this serum. This is almost like the brain in the vat thought experiment.  Neuro activation.  Like a mad scientist, our professor users an example as phantom limb, through neuroactivational.  The brain plays an important role in our perception.

“The Day the Earth Stood Stupid.”                                                                                                   
Futurama

Is a play on human and alien life.  This show is a comedy and the part of the episode, Nibbler uses telepathically That he is an ambassador sent to observe humans.   Brains then starts sending beams toward buildings and fry discovers all the citizen of New York have are now “stupid”. A brain spawn was sent to invade earth and wipe it out.  Everyone is powerless against the stupidity of brain spawn.  Since Fry was the only one not stupid, she is the only one who can defeat it.  The part in the scene where they pin the information to her shirt was funny because once she entered back into the earth atmosphere, she would be too stupid and would not remember.

One common theme between all three episodes is the body seems like it is treated as just a vessel.  We can interchange the body, but the mind is what makes us who and what we are. In embodied cognition, this believes are bodies are just as important as our minds. “Cognition is not limited to the brain, rather we think through and with our bodies.” The interpretation in these episodes that the brain is strong and there can be powers beyond with mind control.  The future could be where we can upload our brain into other bodies.  We must take care of our minds and our bodies.  We have to make sure we take care of these vessels for the brain to work as well.

We watched three different shows for class, and they all were different in their display of the mind and consciousness. In the first piece of media, Altered Carbon I recognized many topics we covered in the lecture. In this episode, there is the format of the sci-fi tech used in the show. In the show, they explain to them as, “This is a cortical stack… Inside is the pure human mind, coded and stored as DHF, Digital Human Freight, Your consciousness can be downloaded into any stack, in any sleeve, you can even needle cast to any sleeve in the settled worlds, a sleeve is replaceable…”There is a lot to unpack there, the human mind is simplified into freight, the human brain irrelevant.  Bodies are demeaned to sleeves, mere vessels for the cartridges of memory stored in the body’s neck/spinal area. Multiple times the idea of getting a new body is made to be a joke clearly the body is a joke to them. There is a strong feeling of the cybernetics understanding of the mind as well. With the discs simplified into software and the body remaining hardware, it fits snuggly into this understanding.

This is the technology that contained people’s thoughts:

In Star Trek: The Original Series there are definitely different, unexpected examples of cognition. Immediately the “brain in a vat”, thought experiment comes to mind. The other form of life in the episode have resigned in jars like glowing spheres for a long period of time. The main life form communicates, and can clearly sense his environment. But when inhabiting a human body it is clear that is a very different experience. Namely, the experiences of the senses again, going as far as the feeling of breathing. Saying even, “Lungs filling with air again, to see again. Heart pumping arteries surging with blood again… too feel it all…” This brings to mind embodied cognition, that we think through and with our bodies. That is a core focus in this episode. The way they consider bodies in this universe is a stark contrast to the previous show, here they are revered and coveted,  because there isn’t what appears to be a surplus of alternatives like in Altered Carbon. In both shows, they do not see the bodies themselves as deeply connected to one’s self at all, merely as vessels.

The episode of Futurama “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” I found by far the most challenging to digest. Though arguably the most simplified in concept, I found it all the more difficult to pinpoint the key arguments. The show plays far less with discussions of self and leans much more into simply the human brain. saying, “The thoughts of others screach at them like the forced laughs of a billion art house movie patrons…” while the end of the punchline is irrelevant, the beginning does explain the motivation of our brain-bodied villains. Their interaction with the world is wholly dependent and affected by the people around them. This reminded me of enacted cognition or the socially extended mind, the villain in a literal sense is affected by other people’s thoughts. In the conclusion of the episode, we see that it literally harms them when people think close to them.