Thought Experiment: The Mysteries of Human Connection
A half-serious, half-witted, exploration of our mind-body connections
I’m sending you this message through the enchanted forest of the internet, where invisible coding wizards have bewitched our land so that we may share thoughts instantaneously across space and time. Indeed, we live in an era of blurred boundaries and, of course, magic. So pour yourself a warm drink, and meet me in the portal between my brain and yours, to examine the edges of the human mind. Off we go…
The Scenarios
Scenario A.) Imagine you are on a basketball team. With mere seconds remaining in the game, you make a crucial rebound and throw a no-look pass behind your back to your teammate streaking down the court. Miraculously, the ball hits your teammate right in the hands, despite your back being turned to the play. It’s as if your body knew where he would be before he even arrived. Bonus miracle: Your teammate makes the game-winning shot. Congratulations.
Scenario B.) Later, you find yourself at a family gathering celebrating your big victory. Your tipsy uncle spills a glass of wine on the carpet. Instantaneously, a memory flashes in your mind of that house party you threw with your sister while your parents were out of town a decade ago. Many drinks were spilled that night. As this memory floods your body and mind, you happen to look up and catch eyes with your sister across the room. You are certain she’s thinking about that same party and how you shrewdly covered a box wine stain with the living room rug. Mom never found out. As if reading your mind, your sister winks and raises her glass, mouthing “cheers!.”
Scenario C.) The next day, you develop a backache. No, you didn’t injure yourself at the basketball game. You take some Tylenol and don’t give it much thought. But that night you receive a call informing you that your mother took a spill earlier in the day and injured her back. By doing some amateur detective work, you realize that the moment your back began throbbing with pain was the exact moment your mother hurt hers.
Scenario D.) In quantum physics, a particle can be split into two objects and both parts can be sent very far away from each other. One in LA, for example, and the other in New York City. Oddly, when viewed by researchers, their behavior will correlate even though neither “knows” where their twin is or what the other particle is doing. But it get’s even more bizarre: the researchers have to view the separate particles from the same angle for the trick to work. It’s as though the particles know they are being observed. The two particles relate as though they are a single object.
Questions for discussion:
Where does your body end and another’s begin? In particular, in scenarios A and C, how did your body know another’s bodily location and sensation? Or, in other words, where exactly is your body located? And can you lose your body?
In scenario B, how do you account for having an unspoken shared thought with someone? Follow up question: Sometimes, you may wake from a bizarre dream and find that a coworker had a very similar dream. Were you there together? And in what realm does your mind exist?
If humans are similar to the particles in scenario D, to what extent do we belong to each other? And to what degree are we becoming our own individual? We like to think of ourselves as individuals, but what makes us independent?
Enjoy your ponderings and if you feel like sharing your thoughts with me, please do. You can message me through the coding wizards or, preferably, send me something through a dream. Whatever works for you. Thanks for playing along. I hope our conversation was just strange enough to keep you entertained and not so annoying as to put you off completely. Do come back and visit soon.
Schuyler