The Enigmatic Connection between Mind and Body

The following link should direct you to a webcomic I came across a while ago. I know it isn't film, but I feel it has some good commentary on the physical and abstract components of one's mind and thoughts. Be sure to read until the end to catch a humorous twist.

Warning: comic contains mild drug-related themes

The game show host takes the position that the mind is an entity separate from the body while the contestant argues that the mind has a physical basis. In a sense, the host approaches the subject more philosophically while the contestant approaches it purely scientifically. Each character makes some good points, but ultimately I'm inclined to agree with the contestant. Just because we cannot yet fathom the physical mechanisms behind complex neural activities doesn't mean we should accept speculation to fill in our gaps in knowledge.

According to the host, the mind must be separate because we have no way of measuring thoughts on an absolutely objective level (i.e., can't record songs that play in our heads or look at the mental images of someone else). We might be able to do these things some day though. Technology from the clip of Strange Days that we saw might not be so far off. Neurobiologists make discoveries to help elucidate the functions of the brain frequently, see this article. We know how the brain functions on a basic level: with chemical and electrical synapses, neurotransmitters, action potentials, etc. The current challenge lies in figuring out how more complex functions occur. As the contestant from the game show comic points out, it's logical to operate under the current hypothesis that the culmination of our micro neural activity is the basis of more complex functions. The mind is only separated from the body as much as our nervous systems are separated from the rest of our body systems.

Practically, this distinction is only a matter of semantics; we must consider humans as an elaborate organic machine. All of our parts and functions are interconnected. As pointed out in the comic, drugs can alter one's state of mind. Consider for instance someone with an attention deficit disorder. They can be treated so that their mind functions more similarly to the rest of us. Drugs make a good argument for the connectivity of mind and body.

Well, that's a lot of fancy talk, but what does it actually mean? It means a situation like the one in Freaky Friday can't actually happen, sorry. Humans don't exist as distinct minds and bodies. My conclusion is based mostly on biology and scientific reasoning. Of course, maybe I'm biased towards a scientific perspective due to Francis Bacon's four idols, limiting the merit of this whole response (whoa, meta).