Re: Reply to Psi

On Saturday, 22nd August 1992, Pierre-Louis Constantin said:

> Mm... I'm not too sure about this OOBE, "silver-cord" stuff. :)   Everything
> I've learned about the mind and brain up to now tells me that a great deal
> of the "mind" is a secondary effect of a brain's structure; no structure, no
> mind.  (Sure this is psionics, imaginary stuff, so we can make it what we
> like :)
> In my opinion it means that Clairvoyance/audience/othersense is not a
> projection of the mind but instead a projection of the mind's eye to the
> place to "sense" or the other way around.  Metempsychosis would be the only
> "total" projection of the mind there is and it would be projected into
> another structure.  The mind would survive if the other structure is similar
> and adequate enough.

There are many possibilities...

> >humanoid inhabits a creature with a smaller brain volume, then the mind
> >will adjust to fit.  So if you want to inhabit a mouse, then expect to
> >possibly become a sap, and definately lose 80% of your intelligence and
>
> That sounds good. :)  But I think that a difference of up to 20% less brain
> volume shouldn't matter too much, as all homo sapiens don't have quite the
> same brain volume but it doesn't prevent some "smaller-brained" to be
> geniuses (might be caused by the smaller transmission time inside the brain)
>  ...
> Also there's the "theory" that we don't use all of our brain capacity,
> so in theory a smaller brain would be able to perform just as well as a
> redundant, bigger one...
> Except that there might be some secondary effects (likelier to devellop
> delusions, less memory, less concentration, less capable to hold onto many
> different frames at the same time...)

A being's mind originated in the being's brain, so any change in size is
relative to the original brain size.  Also, any change is permanent, so
if a character inhabits a mouse, and then inhabits a larger creature
(if it is at all possible), then the stats will not revert to normal.
They will stay that of the mouse...

It is possible for a midget human to be very intelligent, but have a smaller
brain, so the trasition to a mouse would have slightly less of an effect.

Consider the mind as the personality, then the brain might be the machinery
that enables the mind to work.  Some minds (very few) are able to function
without the machinery, but these minds would be very powerful.  Should this
mind be confined to an alien, smaller brain, then functionality would be
sacrificed.  Active psionic beings use nearly all their brain, where as
us saps use merely half (or less).  Perhaps some animals would be mentally
psionically inoperable.  Hence a being who inhabits such a brain may lose
nearly all their powers, regardless of relative brain sizes.

Along with the loss of mental/psionic abilities, would be the possibility
of mind damage.  Lost memory, senses, etc.  But there is also a slight
chance of gaining abilities in the new host, that were not available to
the original host eg. various optical modes.  But this would take time
to get used to.  If a host creature naturally sees in IR, then the
invading projectionist would be mostly blinded until (s)he learned to
decipher the optical patterns.

Regards,

	Mike.
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 Internet:	[email removed]

                     "I have a cunning plan..."	- Baldrick (Black Adder)
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     Michael Glew - School of Math Phys Comp & Elec - Macquarie University
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