Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? - Maryam Alimardani

Da li ste vi telo sa umom ili um sa telom? - Marjam Alimardani (Maryam Alimardani)

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Mile Živković

Look at your hand.

Pogledajte vašu ruku.

How do you know it's really yours?

Kako znate da je stvarno vaša?

It seems obvious, unless you've experienced the rubber hand illusion.

Čini se očiglednim, osim ako ste doživeli iluziju sa gumenom rukom.

In this experiment, a dummy hand is placed in front of you

U ovom eksperimentu, ispred vas stoji ruka lutke,

and your real hand is hidden behind a screen.

a vaša stvarna ruka je skrivena iza zaslona.

Both are simultaneously stroked with a paint brush.

Obe istovremeno maze slikarskom četkicom.

No matter how much you remind yourself the dummy hand isn't yours,

Koliko god sebe podsećali da ruka lutke nije vaša,

you eventually start to feel like it is,

vremenom počnete da osećate kao da jeste

and inevitably flinch when it's threatened with a knife.

i neizbežno se trgnete kada joj zaprete nožem.

That may just be a temporary trick, but it speaks to a larger truth:

To možda jeste privremeni trik, ali otkriva veću istinu:

our bodies, the physical, biological parts of us,

naša tela, fizički, biološki delovi nas,

and our minds, the thinking, conscious aspects,

i naši umovi, misleći, svesni aspekti,

have a complicated, tangled relationship.

imaju složen, zamršen odnos.

Which one primarily defines you or your self?

Koji od njih prvenstveno određuje vas ili vaše sopstvo?

Are you a physical body that only experiences thoughts and emotions

Da li ste vi fizičko telo koje jedino doživljava misli i osećanja

as a result of biochemical interactions in the brain?

kao rezultat biohemijskih interakcija u mozgu?

That would be a body with a mind.

To bi bilo telo sa umom.

Or is there some non-physical part of you that's pulling the strings

Ili postoji neki nefizički deo vas koji povlači konce,

but could live outside of your biological body?

ali može da živi van vašeg biološkog tela?

That would be a mind with a body.

To bi bio um s telom.

That takes us to an old question

To nas dovodi do starog pitanja:

of whether the body and mind are two separate things.

da li su telo i um dve odvojene stvari?

In a famous thought experiment,

U čuvenom misaonom eksperimentu,

16th-century philosopher René Descartes pointed out

filozof iz XVI veka, Rene Dekart je istakao

that even if all our physical sensations were just a hallucinatory dream,

da čak i kad bi svi naši fizički osećaji bili samo halucinatorni snovi,

our mind and thoughts would still be there.

naš um i misli bi i dalje postojali.

That, for him, was the ultimate proof of our existence.

To je za njega bio konačan dokaz našeg postojanja.

And it led him to conclude that

I navelo ga je da zaključi

the conscious mind is something separate from the material body

da je svesni um nešto odvojeno od materijalnog tela

that forms the core of our identity.

i da oblikuje srž našeg identiteta.

The notion of a non-physical consciousness

Pretpostavka nefizičke svesnosti

echoes the belief of many religions in an immaterial soul

odražava verovanja mnogih religija u nematerijalnu dušu

for which the body is only a temporary shell.

za koju je telo tek privremeni oklop.

If we accept this, another problem emerges.

Ako prihvatimo ovo, javlja se novi problem.

How can a non-physical mind have any interaction with the physical body?

Kako nefizički um može da ima bilo kakvu interakciju sa fizičkim telom?

If the mind has no shape, weight, or motion,

Ako um nema oblik, težinu ili pokret,

how can it move your muscles?

kako može da pokreće vaše mišiće?

Or if we assume it can, why can your mind only move your body and not others?

Ili, ako prihvatimo da može, zašto vaš um tek može da pokreće vaše telo, ne i tuđa?

Some thinkers have found creative ways to get around this dilemma.

Neki mislioci su otkrili kreativne načine da prenebregnu ovu dilemu.

For example, the French priest and philosopher Nicolas Malebranche

Na primer, francuski sveštenik i filozof, Nikola Malebranš,

claimed that when we think about reaching for a fork,

tvrdio je da kada razmišljamo o posezanju za viljuškom,

it's actually god who moves our hand.

zapravo našu ruku pomera bog.

Another priest philosopher named George Berkeley

Drugi sveštenik filozof, po imenu Džordž Berkli,

concluded that the material world is an illusion,

je zaključio da je materijalni svet iluzija,

existing only as mental perceptions.

koja postoji samo u vidu mentalnih percepcija.

This question of mind versus body isn't just the domain of philosophers.

Ovo pitanje, um nasuprot telu, nije jedino filozofska oblast.

With the development of psychology and neuroscience,

S razvojem psihologije i neuronauke

scientists have weighed in, as well.

i naučnici su dali svoj doprinos raspravi.

Many modern scientists reject the idea

Mnogi savremeni naučnici odbacuju ideju

that there's any distinction between the mind and body.

da postoji bilo kakva razlika između uma i tela.

Neuroscience suggests that our bodies, along with their physical senses,

Neuronauka pretpostavlja da su naša tela, zajedno sa njihovim fizičkim osećajima,

are deeply integrated with the activity in our brains

suštinski integrisana sa aktivnošću naših mozgova

to form what we call consciousness.

kako bi se obrazovalo ono što nazivamo svesnošću.

From the day we're born,

Od dana rođenja,

our mental development is formed through our body's interaction

naš mentalni razvoj se oblikuje preko interakcije našeg tela

with the external world.

sa spoljnim svetom.

Every sight, sound, and touch create new maps and representations in the brain

Svaki prizor, zvuk i dodir stvaraju nove mape i predstave u mozgu

that eventually become responsible for regulating our experience of self.

koje vremenom postaju odgovorne za regulaciju našeg iskustva sebe.

And we have other senses, besides the typical five,

A imamo druga čula, pored tipičnih pet,

such as the sense of balance

poput osećaja ravnoteže

and a sense of the relative location of our body parts.

i osećaja relativne pozicije naših delova tela.

The rubber hand illusion, and similar virtual reality experiments,

Iluzija sa gumenom rukom, i slični eksperimenti sa virtuelnom stvarnošću,

show that our senses can easily mislead us in our judgment of self.

pokazuju da nas naša čula lako mogu obmanuti pri samoproceni.

They also suggest that our bodies and external sensations

Takođe nagoveštavaju da su naša tela i spoljni nadražaji

are inseparable from our subjective consciousness.

neodvojivi od naše subjektivne svesti.

If this is true, then perhaps Descartes' experiment was mistaken from the start.

Ako je to tačno, onda je možda Dekartov eksperiment u startu pogrešan.

After all, if we close our eyes in a silent room,

Naposletku, ako zatvorimo oči u prostoriji bez zvuka,

the feeling of having a body isn't something we can just imagine away.

osećanje posedovanja tela nije nešto što možemo da smetnemo s uma.

This question of mind and body becomes particularly interesting

Ovo pitanje uma i tela postaje naročito zanimljivo

at a time when we're considering future technologies,

u vremenu kada razmatramo buduću tehnologiju,

such as neural prosthetics and wearable robots

poput neuronske protetike i nosivih robota

that could become extended parts of our bodies.

koji bi mogli da postanu produženi delovi našeg tela.

Or the slightly more radical idea of mind uploading,

Ili kod nešto radikalnije ideje učitavanja mozga na softver,

which dangles the possibility of immortal life without a body

što pokreće mogućnost besmrtnog postojanja bez tela

by transferring a human consciousness into a computer.

tako što bismo prebacili ljudsku svest na kompjuter.

If the body is deeply mapped in the brain,

Ako je telo duboko urezano u mozak,

then by extending our sense of self to new wearable devices,

onda bi se proširavanjem osećaja sebe putem novih nosivih uređaja,

our brains may eventually adapt to a restructured version

naši mozgovi mogli vremenom prilagoditi restruktuiranoj verziji

with new sensory representations.

sa novim čulnim predstavama.

Or perhaps uploading our consciousness into a computer might not even be possible

Ili je učitavanje svesti na kompjuter ipak možda nemoguće,

unless we can also simulate a body capable of delivering physical sensations.

ukoliko ne možemo da simuliramo telo u stanju da proizvodi fizičke osećaje.

The idea that our bodies are part of our consciousness and vice versa

Zamisao da su naša tela deo naše svesti, i obratno,

also isn't new.

takođe nije nova.

It's found extensively in Buddhist thought,

Prilično je prisutna u budističkom razmišljanju,

as well as the writings of philosophers from Heidegger to Aristotle.

kao i u delima filozofa, od Hajdegera do Aristotela.

But for now, we're still left with the open question

No, za sad, i dalje nam ostaje otvoreno pitanje

of what exactly our self is.

šta je tačno naše "ja".

Are we a mind equipped with a physical body as Descartes suggested?

Da li smo mi um opremljen fizičkim telom, kao što je Dekart pretpostavljao?

Or a complex organism that's gained consciousness

Ili smo složeni organizam koji je stekao svesnost

over millions of years of evolution

milionima godina evolucije

thanks to a bigger brain and more neurons than our distant ancestors?

zahvaljujući većem mozgu i većem broju neurona nego kod naših davnih predaka?

Ili je nešto skroz drugačije o čemu još niko i ne sluti?

Or something else entirely that no one's yet dreamt up?