I'm in a different body than I was years ago

[beavis]

Science says most (or all?) atoms in a Human body are replaced by atoms from food you eat about every 7 years. I dont know much about it.

How much (if any) of brains are replaced?

What parts (if any) of Human bodies are not replaced?

If most of the atoms in my body arent the same atoms my body was made of years ago, then I can remember being in 2 or more bodies. Not much different from reincarnation. Its like I reincarnated in this body (from the body made of the old atoms) so slowly I didnt notice. It implies weird things about the connection between occupants of different bodies in the same time.

What would happen if there were 2 people with the same number of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen etc atoms in their bodies, and 1 atom at a time, you switched the same type of atom in one person's body with the other. Your body would now be made of all the atoms from the other, and their new body would contain all the atoms from your old body. As much as you could tell from the shape and type of atoms, each body would be the same as it was before, but which soul goes to which body?

After every single-atom switch, each person will confidently say they are the same person. Eventually they will have none of their original atoms left, and will say the same. Maybe the 2 souls would share both the bodies, which would imply the same for any soul that has ever used these atoms... weird

But this doesnt imply the god-is-everything theory that many believe. One soul does not have to equal an other soul to use the same atoms, and they dont have to use the same atoms. They could each stick with their own atoms, even when they're in 2 separate bodies. But it does add confusion to the boundary between one soul and an other, added to the facts of telepathy, telekinesis, and other things that seem to connect things that you wouldnt think would be connected.

[Tom]

Here's another good one: if you can use molecular nanotechnology and computers based on it to gradually study and replace every neuron in your body with a computer and software, at the end of the process are you still alive?

[beavis]

If you trade all your atoms with an other body and you're still alive, trading them one at a time for silicon etc, while preserving the behavior of the body, should be the same.

[Tom]

There are no parts of the body which are not replaced every 7 years entirely. Most of your organs are completely replaced much more often than that, especially your skin and stomach. I'll go farther than that by saying that you are not the same person from moment to moment, but instead you are constantly re-creating yourself.

[beavis]

Why are you sure all atoms in the brain get replaced?

That is the most important organ to this question.

[Tom]

Here is a web site with quotations:

http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/gunter.heim/ENGLjedi/literature/norretranders.htm

Richard Feynman on consciousness, page 326:
In 1955, the American physicist Richard Feynman put it thus: "The atoms that are in the brain are being replaced; the ones that were there before have gone away. So what is this mind of ours: what are these atoms whith consciousness? Last week's potatoes! They now can remember what was going on in my mind a year ago."

[Telos]

I'd like to add some context to that Feynman quote, if I may. He is not asserting the notion that the entire brain is replacing its atoms. Rather, he's talking about how to interpret seemingly narrow work on the phosphorous contents of rats brains. He's talking about looking for the beauty of science and to be captivated by its potential discoveries.

In 1955, there was no knowledge that cells turned over at all in the human brain. He was trying to motivate the crowd and to motivate students. There's only recently been research that shows the hippocampus turns over, and some areas of the neo-cortex in birds and monkeys.

... you have to know how to read the music. For instance, the scientific article may say, "The radioactive phosphorus content of the cerebrum of the rat decreases to one-half in a period of two weeks." Now what does that mean?

It means that phosphorus that is in the brain of a rat -- and also in mine, and yours -- is not the same phosphorus as it was two weeks ago. It means the atoms that are in the brain are being replaced: the ones that were there before have gone away.

So what is this mind of ours: what are these atoms with consciousness? Last week's potatoes! They now can remember what was going on in my mind a year ago -- a mind which has long ago been replaced.

To note that the thing I call my individuality is only a pattern or dance, that is what it means when one discovers how long it takes for the atoms of the brain to be replaced by other atoms. The atoms come into my brain, dance a dance, and then go out -- there are always new atoms, but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday.

When we read about this in the newspaper, it says "Scientists say this discovery may have importance in the search for a cure for cancer." The paper is only interested in the use of the idea, not the idea itself. Hardly anyone can understand the importance of an idea, it is so remarkable. Except that, possibly, some children catch on. And when a child catches on to an idea like that, we have a scientist. It is too late for them to get the spirit when they are in our universities [* I would now say, "It is late -- although not too late -- form them to get the spirit..."], so we must attempt to explain these ideas to children.

The total transcript can be read at:

http://epi.is-a-geek.net/thevalueofscience.html

And everyone should read it, because he also talks about the value of skepticism.

[jilola]

Yet tattoos don't disappear.


2cents & L &L
Jouni

[Tom]

I'll still say that the glucose atoms are constantly being replaced along with the oxygen which burns it. The processes of life involve constant change. It was just that that was the only thing I could find on short notice.

[beavis]

If a powerful psychic dies and I eat them, do I gain their powers?

[Tom]

Of course not. You'd be in trouble if that was the case. I bet you eat meat. Moo.

[beavis]

theoretically if i was a cannibal would i gain some of the powers of the psychic that I ate?

[Tom]

If the theoretical psychic didn't see it coming, there wouldn't be much power or ability there for you to gain in the process.

I'd be more concerned about eating cows and chickens and what you might be getting from them.

[beavis]

Why does it matter if they see it coming? Power doesnt exist then leave instantly. It usually stays for months.

cows and chickens... Yes. Probably better to eat humans.

[Tom]

What kind of a psychic would cooperate with being killed and eaten? A psychic who didn't know in advance of the danger of being eaten is probably not very powerful anyway. A psychic who could see it coming in advance would be likely to find somewhere else to be when the time comes.

[Telos]

beavis, the answer is clear. You would have to eat their psychic body.

[beavis]

If they're powerful and try to avoid me, there are still physical things that could stop them, like a snake biting them or police, or maybe I'm more powerful and want to consume their lesser powers anyways. Theoretically if they couldnt get away, would I gain some of their powers?

[Telos]

Well, you would have to make sure your digestive system is healthy. Not everything is absorbed, you know. Most of their psychic power would pass through into your waste, and instead it would go to the Earth.

They would reincarnate in the great circle of life, and have the last laugh.

[beavis]

but would ANY of it transfer to me?

[Tom]

It would be better to have the psychic simply put energy into your food and drink. For that matter, you can learn to do this for yourself. Better karma for everyone involved, too.

[Telos]

yeah, beavis, of course.. but wouldn't the molecules be broken down and trasnmuted into constituent parts, only to be replaced by other molecules in the future?

I say you would have 1% of their psychic power over the course of a couple days, starting a day after consumption.

lol

[beavis]

I didnt ask cause I'd really do it. I want to learn how atoms and souls interact.

[Telos]

Well, maybe they don't interact.

Maybe they correlate.

[beavis]

then why do they correlate?

[Telos]

Why wouldn't they?