The human body as a frame of reference.

[tar]

Two hands, feet, eyes, ears, and a bunch of other things making the left a mirror image of the right in many ways, with a plane of symmetry down the center.

 

Inner ears balanced put the eyes parallel to the horizon, truing us, to the earth.

 

The nose, and toes forward, the back and butt, back and behind.

 

The head up, the feet firmly on the ground.

 

We are built to comprehend 3 dimensional space. Left and right, foward and back, up and down.

 

In- through the eyes and nose and mouth and ears and skin

Out- through the nose and mouth and voice and pores and waste channels

 

We are built to know self and other. (and perhaps with the female sex organ in, and the male out, a slightly different knowledge of such between the two)

 

Time with the beating of our heart and the sleep and wake cycles again truing us with the Earth and Sun.

 

Beginning and End with our birth and death.

 

Truth when all the senses find the same thing to be.

 

Reflection-through reflection.

[tomgwyther]

Is there a specific question you wish to ask; or topic you wish to discuss?

[tar]

Is there a specific question you wish to ask; or topic you wish to discuss?

 

Tomgwyther,

 

Sorry, is a bit broad a topic. Sort of includes everything.

 

Specifically I was after the real role that the human body plays in our understanding.

Seems to me, that we are of and in reality, and as such, there is no part of us, that is magic, or "other than" reality.

Even our thoughts and dreams are made of the stuff of reality, in this interpretation. Not actually but figuratively.

Metaphysical, the word, seems to have taken on a certain "unreal" meaning. Not sure why or how this is meant.

 

My "investigation" that I have been on, personally, for the last year is "looking for the meaning behind language".

Rather even broader a topic than this thread title, so this particular angle was an attempt at focusing on one thread of the fabric, of the cloth already. I sort of wanted to see if it would start anybody off. I guess I pulled the car up and was asking if anybody wanted to go anywhere in this particular vehical. Guess I should suggest a destination, and see if anybody has any directions they can offer.

 

So here is a sub question. With a lead in.

 

Many of the attributes listed above are shared by animals in general and mammals in particular and primates even more so. Much of what we are and think may therefore be similar in an evolutionary sense to animals. However we have this language thing, which other animals seem to have in only rudementary forms. And we have this "abstract thought" thing that does not seem to be highly developed in any other species. For us to be made of the same stuff as our "relatives", but have this language and thought thing, which seems by all accounts to give us quite a leg up on the other lifeforms on this planet, there should be "something" real and explainable, that "bridges" the apparent gap.

 

My current quess is that we used our "predictive motor simulator" in some way to "practice" effecting the world "outside" our direct motor neuron control, before we actually "fired off" the impulses...thereby engaging in a bit of "trial and error" before actually expending the energy and taking the risk of life and limb. But evidently this facility may also be present in our close relatives, and would have had to exist, probably, in our ancestors.

 

So the question is: What do human's do differently, and how did that come about, in terms of the real structures and functions of our body-heart-brain? (without magic, or aliens, or anthropomorphic gods, being involved)

 

Regards, TAR2

 

(hey, what if there is some "truth" to the ledgends and myths of our genesis as humans...as in "eating the forbidden fruit, and then having the knowledge of good and evil... as in some deadly poisionous fruit, that we evolved a way to know of and warn others of our species about...leading to speech and thought and transferrable knowledge of all sorts...) (in the beginning, was the word...then sentences...then stories)

 

Anybody know of particular glands or chemicals or hormones that are found in humans exclusively or in obviously, orders of magnitude, a grander fashion than any other species? Might lend us a clue.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=MUbQGDEkINEC&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=how+many+species+have+an+adam's+apple&source=bl&ots=Kdu4g3SPH5&sig=Fmwajq5bJNj2zapcsJfvck7A524&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kh_1TvTVDub10gGihdSiAg&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=how%20many%20species%20have%20an%20adam's%20apple&f=false

 

Whoops, not my idea. Must have read or heard it before.

 

What other thoughts along these lines have been had?

Edited December 24, 2011 by tar