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.
5 thoughts on “The Consciousness, the Mind and the Brain”
Hi Olivia,
I love the quotes that you incorporated into your blog post. As I was reading, I was really struck by the phrasing “pure mind.” Does that mean a mind in a body is an “impure mind.” That certainly seems to fit with theories of the mind that elevate it above the base and animal body (which has a long history of being associated with various forms of impurity). You also really effectively analyze the idea of the body as a “sleeve”—a replaceable vessel that houses the cybernetic mind, but that is separate from it.
I totally get what you’re saying about the Futurama episode. Part of the reason why, I think, that it is trickier to analyze is because it is a 22 minute comedy, so it has less time to develop its concepts. I really like reading connecting the brains to extended or distributed congition. One other thing I’d encourage you to think about is how the brains claim to have “evolved’ beyond the need for a body. How does that connect to idea of “pure mind” we see in Altered Carbon?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Olivia,
I definitely agree that cybernetics was a strong point in “Altered Carbon.” We saw examples of the brain being the software that the body couldn’t work without. In “Star Trek: The Original Series,” it was a wonderful experience for them to have a body, but both shows saw the body as a vessel. There seemed to be this belief that the mind was more elevated than the body, and yet in both episodes they can’t fully function as beings without the body. I also found the Futurama episode to be a bit challenging to dissect. I do think “The Brain in a vat” played a part in this episode because the brains believe they don’t need a body and see it as a weakness.
Alessa Bustillo
Hi Alessa,
Yes! I agree that connecting the Futurama episode to the brain in the vat is a productive approach for thinking about it. What does it mean to be a brain without a body?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Olivia,
I Totally get what you mean when you said that you felt the Futurama Episode was the hardest to digest. Even though one would assume that it is the easiest just based on the cartoon factor it definitely feels as though it has the least obvious examples. Especially when you compare it to the other episodes that are more direct with their discussion of thoughts and consciousness. I liked that you noted right before you discussion of Futurama that in both Altered Carbon and Star Trek that, “they do not see the bodies themselves as deeply connected to one’s self at all, merely as vessels.” Because this feels like the strongest connection to the Futurama episode. The brains feel as though they are above the body and have grown strong enough to live without them; however, in the end the brain was defeated because fry used his body and his (not so intelligent) mind to win.
Rebecca Kennedy
Hi Olivia,
I was also shocked at how the human brain was treated, but I was more upset about the treatment of bodies. What’s interesting is that both are considered replaceable, which is different from what we’ve been taught growing up: you only have one body, so treat it well. I do see themes of cybernetics as well, but I was thinking more along the lines of the afterlife, and the human need to prolong life as they’re doing. Futurama definitely was a bit difficult to grasp, mainly because it’s in cartoon form, so everything was either surface level or hidden behind sarcasm.
toyoung