posted on Apr, 22 2006 @ 09:47 PM
The left part of the brain is very analytical, whereas the right part of the brain is for more artistic type of stuff. The right brain cannot speak in
words.
They two halves of the brain are connected by a huge bundle of fibers. If you sever this bundle, the person will still seem normal but if you have
them do certain things, their brain halves will interfere with each other. For example, they did an experiment on people who had both halves
separated, due to seizures. They had the people focus on a spot on a screen, then flashed two pictures, one on each side of the screen, before these
people.
Each brain half controls the opposite side of the body (left brain controls right side, right brain controls left side). On the left side of the
screen was an image of a spoon I think, on the right side, a knife. When asked what image the person had seen, since the left brain (controlling the
right eye) can respond with spoken language, it confidently stated that there was a knife shown.
The person was then asked to feel behind a curtain with their left hand for the object they saw. This is where it got realyl interesting. The person
pulled out a spoon. They then asked the person why they pulled out a spoon instead of the knife, since they saw the knife.
The right brain was controlling the left hand, and since the halves were separated, they functioned on their own. The right brain knew it was wrong,
but since it can't speak with spoken language, the person couldn't respond with words. Instead, they just shook their head.
Each half of the brain has its own capabilties and is in a sense its own version of the same person. You really have two versions of yourself in a
sense, inside your head. Normally, they work together. If one half of the brain can perform a task a lot better than the other half, the other half
will shut down. But if the halves are separated, they work as if each one is the only brain in the head in some sense.
One of the really neat things about the brain is that it is excrutiatingly slow in terms of performing normal calculator-like computer calculations,
which is why computers can figure out complex mathematical problems at far greater speeds than the human brain.
YET, the brain is INGENIOUSLY designed to perform highly, HIGHLY-advanced parallel processing, which is needed for things like facial recognition and
so forth. Modern, man-made computers are incredibly weak at this, which is why they can't recognize faces anywhere near as well as a human brain.
One of the amazing things about the field of artificial intelligence in computer science is it shows just how insanely complex of a problem many
rather seemingly simple-seeming brain functions are, which shows just how amazing the brain really is.
What I want to know is if you could build a clone of yourself without a brain, then take one half of your own brain out and stick it into that clone,
would that clone be another version of you, but limited in its thinking?
If that clone recieved the right brain, would it lack speech? Or would it be able to speak, albeit in a limited manner? Would it steal all of your
artistic abilities if it had the right brain and you had the analytical left?
it sure would be neat talking to another version of yourself for accomplishing what you thought was impossible. What's realyl funny is you both would
be the same person talking to each other, just a slightly different version.
The original version would be like, "Wow, it worked, the clone has half a brain," and the clone would be like, "Wow, I successfully transported
myself into a clone body!"
There is probably a bunch of science that goes against something like that, but it's still fun to think about.