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How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

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Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#11

Post by readams »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #9

There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…

There are some lucky circumstances where this is true, but most such accommodations are not like that. Usually some trade-off must be made, in cost or in functionality. For example, with those same cut curbs, we now need to put a bumpy panel to allow blind and visually impaired people to feel the transition from curb to street, but these make the cut much worse for anything with wheels.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#13

Post by ocschwar »

Marshal McLuhan's book Understanding Media had the full title "Understanding media: the extensions of man."

And he had a chapter about the automobile.

If you've ever had the chilling experience of a skid, the terrifying adrenaline surge during that second where it is clear the car is no longer under your control, you know the dude was onto something. The car is an extension of our bodies. An extra body part.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#15

Post by from-nibly »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #9

There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…

It's like the overpopularization of the gluten free diet. It serves gluten intolerant people a lot.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#16

Post by clipsy »

readams wrote: post #11
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #9

There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…

There are some lucky circumstances where this is true, but most such accommodations are not like that. Usually some trade-off must be made, in cost or in functionality. For example, with those same cut curbs, we now need to put a bumpy panel to allow blind and visually impaired people to feel the transition from curb to street, but these make the cut much worse for anything with wheels.

> but these make the cut much worse for anything with wheels.

Worse than the original curbs? Not in my experience.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#17

Post by from-nibly »

labster wrote: post #7

This doesn’t seem like an unusual finding considering how good humans are at tool use in general. Picking up objects and using them as if they were part of our own body is pretty standard for us. I remember that learning how to drive a car was actually quite difficult, but by now, even rental cars seem like an extension of my body that I can control mostly unconsciously. (Operating vehicles while entirely unconscious…

I think what this does is blur the line between extra body parts and tools. And maybe it leans more into the fact that our brains treat tools and body parts similarly.

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#19

Post by gravescale »

labster wrote: post #7

This doesn’t seem like an unusual finding considering how good humans are at tool use in general. Picking up objects and using them as if they were part of our own body is pretty standard for us. I remember that learning how to drive a car was actually quite difficult, but by now, even rental cars seem like an extension of my body that I can control mostly unconsciously. (Operating vehicles while entirely unconscious…

> mostly unconsciously

There's even a name for it when you just appear to teleport down the road:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_hypnosis

Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?

#20

Post by [deleted] »

readams wrote: post #11
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #9

There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…

There are some lucky circumstances where this is true, but most such accommodations are not like that. Usually some trade-off must be made, in cost or in functionality. For example, with those same cut curbs, we now need to put a bumpy panel to allow blind and visually impaired people to feel the transition from curb to street, but these make the cut much worse for anything with wheels.

[deleted]
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