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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?
#112they should test these augmentation techs on people who ride horses as it requires using thought and micro gestures to operate an entire second body in real time using each limb independently.
I used to feel similar about riding a motorcycle. Of course it's not the same as it's a machine, not a living animal your are communicating with. But so much it feels like it becomes an extension of your body and you just move by pure thought. Similar to using a game controller I guess but more of a whole body experience.
good observation, motorcycles are definitely the next closest thing as far as complete machine extensions of the body go vs. say, surfing or snowboarding where the body is unmediated by the engine or gyroscopic feedback in its relationship to gravity.
the difference between an animal and an instrument is in the expression of intent that is parsed by another being. the sensors interpreted by a computer are a feedback mechanism more like a thermostat or ABS, but now with AI we're starting to challenge our understanding of those differences.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similar here. For a very long time, I thought that being good at something was knowing the system and rules, and applying them consciously every time. It's funny because I legit thought that that's what I was doing while playing video games or doing martial arts (the only things I was reasonably good at for quite awhile). It turns out the learning and doing processes are both deeply subconscious; very little goes on…
Developing that automaticity with a physical skill also unlocks the brain to do other parts that are conscious. After a game, Lebron James can explain what happened in a play moment by moment for every player on the floor, and everything he was thinking and planning as the play developed. He’s done it in post game press conferences off the top of his head. Granted he’s maybe the all time greatest, but it’s illustrati…
Consistent with many technical sports such as Formula One motor racing. Ask a driver to talk about the race, during which they are driving a vehicle at levels normal humans could not approach, and they describe not the driving but the tactics and strategy within the physics window.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I was young, my first real experience with this was seeing a black and white spiral optical illusion in a museum. I stared at it for a bit, and then my brain adjusted and when I looked away, it affected what I looked at. I think my realization was that my brain didn't just do simple things, it did complex in many dimensions to adapt and fix things. The same thing goes with your foot, and it goes way deeper than…
The brain seems to do 90% error correction. Once you learn how human vision actually works it seems miraculous that it works at all.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#115Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#116they should test these augmentation techs on people who ride horses as it requires using thought and micro gestures to operate an entire second body in real time using each limb independently.
This is an excellent observation. Dressage (for example) is a set of evolutionary constraints about controlling a 600kg similarly trained million dollar animal through tiny movements (mostly in your thighs and buttocks) in order to win prestigious prizes including Olympic medals.
The horses react with puzzlement if you are not trained to a similar level - if you are a junior rider, expert horses are incompatible.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#117There'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.
Any more example where it needs to be a tradeoff? I've been very skeptical about the concept since first hearing it. Seems too good to be true.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#118I started wearing a bath robe belt as a tail and my brain quickly starts telling me I am wearing it when I am not. I also had a phantom watch ⌚ on for a week after losing it.
I can second this. My fursuit has a large tail that uses a kidney belt. I can feel where my tail is without thinking about it. When it curls under me, I use the back of my foot to push out of the way.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#119I broke my Achilles tendon - had to have a FULL reconstruction - they took a tendon that used to help waggle my big toe (the muscle is in my leg) wrapped around my heel and back up my leg and rebuilt my achilles around that - now I have a muscle that used to wiggle my toe than moves my entire foot. How hard was it to relearn? at first I'd try to move my toe and something else would move, it felt weird - but doctor's…
I think if you just exit your subjective perspective, this type of adaptation becomes obvious. What is using a game controller, keyboard + mouse, bicycle handlebars, snowboard, etc but augmentation. Yeah, it's designed to be ergonomic from the outset, but that doesn't change the fact that it is an augment.
Agreed. Furthermore, it feels uniquely weird when a scenario comes up where these "external augmentations" don't behave correctly. I often experience this when putting my laptop in the center of my normal desk setup. I'll instinctively go to move my laptop's mouse cursor via my desk mouse, and suddenly it doesn't work. For a brief moment it feels paralyzing, as if my arm is dead or etc.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#120I can wiggle my ears (only slightly) which is fairly unusual.
I don't have a tail, but I can almost "feel" or visualise the commands I would send down my spine to make it move side to side.