In Altered Carbon bodies are viewed as “sleeves”. Sleeves are a body that the government can put anyone stack in. A stack is basically a small computer containing a person’s digital consciousness and is inserted into the back of the neck. Inserted into the persons spine, the medical person in me has to say it seems like the cervical spine of C4-C5. After Takeshi Kovacs wakes up after 250 years of being dead, he is put into a random sleeve that they had available at the time. The government gives what is available at the time and if you want a better sleeve or an upgrade you must pay for it. Showing how they think of bodies, that they are just vessels to hold our DHF: Digital human freight. It shows that if they keep the DHF safe, they can live in any sleeve- even multiple sleeves. Bodies are easily replaceable, but the mind is not. Once the chip that holds the DHF gets destroyed there is no way in saving that mind. That person is now considered officially dead. Just like a computer, if the motor board is safe and not broken it can be used in a different computer. The mind in this case is the chip that holds the DHF. The mind is the software, and the body is the hardware.
The episode of Star Trek “Return to tomorrow”, viewed bodies differently. A person’s body was seen more than just a vessel but something that was needed to live a life. A body can feel, touch and in the episode that was a big component. Having a brain full of knowledge is one thing but you’re not able to live life fully. For example, when the crew went to go see Sargon, the crew witnessed how these “peoples” mind was stuck in a sphere alien like object. They did not have a body to live in, there were stuck in this sphere. All they wanted were bodies for them self’s and they wanted to create them by being in three crew members bodies. But once they were in the crew members bodies, they quickly fell in love their new borrowed bodies. Sargon even explained what it was like going into Jim’s body, he felt the air in his lungs, he saw things, and he felt his heart beating. The classic things our bodies do every day automatically and we don’t cherish that enough. We take something like breathing for granted.
Going back to the 4E cognition this is an example of embodied cognition because the idea that the mind is not only connected to the brain but that the body influences the mind. The idea that you need a body to live a complete life. At first, I thought that Sargon felt more superior to the crew because he is light years more intelligent but once he was in a body, I could tell that it was an act and he missed feeling alive. Sargon stated that he needed a body to live again. Being stuck in a sphere is not living, it’s the bare minimum of being alive. During the lecture this really stuck out to me, “a body is not something you have; it is something you are”. Showing that you won’t feel complete without a body to live experiences from.
At the end all he wanted to do was be able to kiss his wife one last time, to be able to touch and feel her kiss. Viewers were shown of their love for each other and how precious it is to feel and touch.
Lastly the show futurama really had me thinking on what this episode really meant about the body and mind. In this episode everyone who lived in earth became stupid. As the title of the episode suggests, but one character was not affected. Fry was not affected because he was seen as the most unintelligent character. When the brains came to earth, I instantly saw that everyone was looking up at these brains. The floating brains were higher than anyone there. And it showed to me that the brains wanted to feel like they were superior to the people living there. However, these brains did not speak. I thought that was comical considering to be intelligent people believe that you need to speak. The only brain that spoke was the “big brain”. He is the master mind behind all the other attacks on the planets. The big brain states “We have long since evolved beyond the need for asses”. Demonstrating that he doesn’t need a body, his mind was far superior to anyone else’s. He was able to attack other planets and take over them without having a body. Fry knew he needed to do something, he noticed he was alone, and everyone was now stupid. When Fry was thinking of ways to stop the big brain, he realized that the big brain was losing his powers and becoming substantially weaker and smaller. Demonstrating embodied cognition that the brain and body are needed; fry was able to beat the brain by thinking. When Fry thought more, he decided to write a story and that is what ultimately made the big brain loose and everyone turned back to their normal self’s.
As shown in all three episodes in different ways, we need a brain and a body to feel alive. without the other, we are not complete. That embodied cognition is not limited to the brain, rather we think through with our bodies. Being able to touch and feel something thru our bodies help us feel alive. If we just all were brains with no body, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy life to its full capacity. We think with and through our bodies and not just our mind.
4 thoughts on “Body and mind, do we need it feel alive?”
Hey Glynis!
I really liked how you explained embedded cognition throughout your post. Your and Alex’s posts helped me to digest the material that was in the voice thread. think your analysis of the Star Trek episode is amazing and really important. I know you’re into medical shows so it’s cool how you incorporated the body operating together an example being the lungs and heart working together. I think you explained the difference between the body being viewed as a vessel and the body is viewed as intrinsically important in understanding the world around us. Great work and it was awesome meeting you today!
chowland
Hi Glynis,
Right away, I want to say that I love your title, especially because it introduces the role of feeling in cognition. As we will explore later this semester, our emotions, our feelings, play a vital role in our cognitive system and the ways in which we make sense of the world. Our feelings are part of and inseparable from our cognition—which connects really nicely to your observation about Sargon wanting to “feel” his love for his wife by kissing her.
Your discussion of Altered Carbon brings up some really interesting questions about the mind. You refer to Kovacs as “dead” and I understand why—he hasn’t been in a body for 250 years. But as long as his stack exists, he isn’t really “dead” (that is why we see the religious groups protesting at the start of the episode; it is an idea that is developed more fully throughout the series). As the title of your blog post suggests, this raises questions about the relationship between mind, body, how we understand ourselves as “alive.” This also connects really nicely to your discussion of the Star Trek episode, and the questions it raise: is Sargon alive in the sphere? Would Sargon be ‘alive’ in a mechanical body? Or is he as he claims “dead as his planet”?
I also love the image you included of the lungs and heart, and it made me think about our experience of our bodies. Our bodily functions (like our heart beating and our lungs breathing) tend to be transparent—ie. We don’t usually perceive them unless we are specifically attending to them. As I write this, I keep noticing my breathing, but that is only because my attention is being drawn to it; most of the time, when I’m doing work, I am not thinking about my lungs. There is a good reason for this: it would be incredibly distracting if we were aware of every beat of our heart. It is interesting to consider if Sargon’s experience of Kirk’s body ever becomes similarly transparent—and what that might suggest about his cognition.
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Glynis!
I really enjoyed reading your response. A part that stood out to me a lot was when you mentioned that we take things our bodies do for granted. The energies in the Star Trek episode knew what it was to not have a body and not feel the everyday things like breathing and touching. When you spoke about Futurama, you mentioned that Fry was the only one who wasn’t affected by the big brain’s power because he was not intelligent. I found it ironic how the “dumb” character was the one who basically saved the planet since he was able to figure out how to stop the big brain. I also really liked your caption for the Futurama picture. This was an interesting way to caption it and I really liked that you just didn’t explain the context of the actual picture.
Alexandra Nunez
Hi Alexandra,
Yes! We do often take our bodies–and their role in cognition for granted! Cognitive theorist describe the body as “transparent,” which means that we see it, rather than seeing it itself. That means that we are, very often, not consciously aware of the role it is playing in our cognition.
Jessica Hautsch