Rene Descartes stated that the body and mind are separate.
He questioned the existence of reality; if we actually do exist or are we just
figment of our imagination. What exactly is reality? He also asked, how do we
determine we are who we are? Even if we have determined this is who we are, how
do we know what we see is the reality? This point is inhabited in the
television show, Altered Carbon. Altered Carbon takes place in the future
where scientific technology has been separate the body and the mind. Quite
literally. However, both the body and mind is dependent on one another. The
show exhibited this relationship through the containment of a mind in device.
The device is useless without a body and needs to be inserted into a body like
a computer chip and have its information downloaded for it to be viable. If any
consciousness can be injected into any body, our perception of that person can
be altered. How do we know they are who they really are then?
If we regard our common sense as the absolute truth, then we
can get bamboozled if changes to occur.
We can not be thinking purely scientifically in black and white terms but also
analyze the gray areas. We have to acknowledge the entire spectrum and think
straightforwardly and believe what we think is “right” as the said truth.
Descartes was able to question the working of the human mind in a
non-traditional way and attained more knowledge than a common folk by viewing the
universe holistically. If you view spectrum in its entirety, only then can you
be unbamboozled.
Hi there! I looked up the TV show you mentioned and feel like that was a really good example for this! The separation of mind and body, or their dependence on each other is something you talk about while also mentioning a "gray area." I wrote about this sort of middle ground as well. The concept in the TV show of the chip injecting any perception or beliefs into our minds is similar to how we develop and adopt the same ideas as our parents in many ways. What is inherent in us versus what is taught has a great impact on our lives in ways we may not consider without deeper thought on this topic.
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