[ExI] the gut etc.

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 07/04/2023 17:58, bill w wrote:
> Ben, all I know is that recent research has discovered a multitude of 
> things the gut does that affect our bodies and brains.  Some have 
> referred to it as a second mind.  Maybe we will find out that it even 
> has memories and can learn.  bill w
>
> On Fri, Apr 7, 2023 at 2:15 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat 
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>
>     > How do you upload a gut and glial cells?  bill w
>
>     I don't care about the gut itself (why would an upload need one?
>     And if
>     a simulated gut turned out to be useful or even necessary, a
>     generic one
>     would be fine, I'm sure), but the glia is an interesting one. I don't
>     know the answer, we don't really know what role - if any - they
>     play in
>     our indentities yet, so we have to leave that one for the future.
>

Yes, I've heard such things too, and more. Apparently the microbiome in 
our guts can have a large influence on both our state of mind and our 
immune system.

On the other hand, I've had severe gastroenteritis in the past, and the 
attendant antibiotics and near-total reboot of my gut flora, and it 
never, as far as I was aware, made any difference to who I was. I never 
noticed any change, and neither did my friends or family.

An experiment I would be quite willing to undertake, would be to live 
without my gut and attendant neural equipment (provided I didn't die or 
become ill - which suggests this experiment could only be realistically 
be performed on an upload), and see if it resulted in any significant 
change in my personality.

My guess is that it wouldn't.

An experiment worth doing, though, I'd agree, when we can (actually, 
this experiment, or something close, could possibly be done before we 
can do uploading, but again, that's a whole other topic).

Is the solar plexus (or whatever it's popular to call it these days) 
really an important part of who we are?

i think that it has the status of a 'sub-mind' dedicated to digestive 
matters. How important that is to our identity is anyone's guess. Mine 
is: Not much.

Maybe it differs between individuals.

Ben

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