Re: The Second Brain

From: hal@finney.org
Date: Sun Dec 19 1999 - 19:39:29 MST


J. R. Molloy, <jr@shasta.com>, writes:

> The Second Brain: The Enteric Nervous System
>
> The gut contains a very large number of nerve cells, the enteric
> nervous system, which can act independently of the brain to control
> movement of food, its mixing with digestive juices and its absorption
> into the blood stream. Over the last 2 decades we have identified the
> types of nerve cells that control the movement of food within the gut
> and we have identified the ways that these nerve cells communicate with
> each other.

How would we approach the problem of whether our guts have qualia? And
if they did, who would "I" be? Would I have two minds, or would I be
my brain and my gut would be someone else?

How about Dennett, what does he say about the question of whether systems
like the gut are conscious and/or have qualia? Is this a meaningful
question in his ontology?

Hal



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