this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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We operate our body with a single processor, the brain. Our organs are also managed by the brain. The brain is highly optimized to operate each of our organs, control motor functions, and allow us to think.

1 brain cannot control 2 bodies, there's simply too much going on. Likewise, 2 full brains cannot control the same body, they would fight for resources. Organs keep the brain alive, the brain keeps organs alive. It's a 1:1 ratio, sometimes less than 1, but never double (some have been born with extra controllable appendages but it's few and far between).

Therefore, only a higher, more generalized, processor could handle operating 2 or more distinct beings.

If only our cells could talk.

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[–] lath@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't know how to tell you why you're a bit wrong and i hope someone else will.

I will try though.

The brain is like a network that involves the central nervous system. It isn't just one big thing at the top of your head, but a series of small things connected together from the top of your head down to the end of your spine. And the constraints on their abilities depend heavily on their environment.

Higher processing power consumes more energy and requires better cooling. And the human body can only provide a limited amount of both.

It's a matter of matter itself. Our bones, blood vessels, muscles, everything are what they are due to the planet we live on. We can't do better (for now) due to chemistry.

So it's really not that the brain can't, but that the basic laws of our local universe don't allow it to. By itself however, I'd say it almost definitely can or it will at least grow to try.

[–] not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

This makes me imagine a sci-fi scenario where it's possible to add the ability to control additional bodies to a persons brain, probably using some kind of radio-like remote control network, but only when they are young enough to have a high enough brain plasticity. After a certain age, you lose the window of opportunity to add additional bodies to your brain.

Hmm, now I kinda want to read Ancilliary Justice again.

[–] Oka@sopuli.xyz -5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You are correct. The brain is woven into our core, but that also strengthens the idea that a person will always be a person.

[–] leisesprecher@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago

Your comments strengthen my conviction that you read a philosophy book and now try to emulate what you think smart people sound like.

[–] lath@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Eh. Not really. I'd say it goes in the other direction, that the network can fragment into pieces which eventually coexist (or not), yet remain independent from each other.

As the saying goes, we are legion. Yet circumstances has us in a shared working space that requires a single, unitary voice. Interdependence dictated by environmental limitations. And should those limitations disappear, I'm not sure a person would remain a person for long.