this came from the intellectual devotional I am reading:
a scientist is going to remove your brain and put it in his head. he is then going to remove his brain and put it in your head. One of the resulting people is going to be tortured. Who would you rather be tortured? the person who has your body and his brain, or the person who has his body and your brain?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
8 responses to “a thought experiment”
Horror movie musings much?
If it has to be a man I exchange brains with, then he will be attracted to Immortal Pirate. Immortal Pirate will combat him and it will not be pretty. His body would get fatter with my brain in it.
I would not be happy with having a man’s body.
His brain in my body would be shocking to him. He would no longer be able to reach the second shelf (from the bottom) in the kitchen. He would have to keep things he wants to reach on the first (bottom) shelf. When shopping, he would not be able to get anything from the top shelf, where the best groceries are kept. Getting in and out of Jay’s truck would be a climb that would hurt his hip joints — that are wearing out. His knees would always hurt. I think, the first thing he would do is to put this body on a really strict diet. Well, if that is what he wants to do, then fine. When sitting in chairs that were designed for a standard-sized adult, his feet dangle — not touching the floor, like a little child. He would sit on only the front of the seat, never leaning back on the back rest. No chair is comfortable. To drive a car, he would have to move the seat way forward towards the dashboard. Even then, his feet will not be able to push the gas peddle to the floor, nor step all the way on the breaks. A standard t-shirt is long enough to be a dress. He would be happy when we exchange our brains back to our original body.
Stay out of my mind…it’s a dangerous neighborhood. Anyone that took my brain would have heart stopping nightmares…
You kick the evil scientists ass, then when the torturers come you just give ’em the big-jerk convincing them the swap has happened. Then you track them to their lair and fist-fight them all into some vat of boiling glowing stuff, or a death ray, or just enough so the whole place implodes while you get away in a small boat with a dream-kini model who’s trying out acting.
I’m curious who wrote this “intellectual devotional”, and what their motivation is.
Something about it doesn’t parse as good or even beneficial.
@griz David S Kidder and Noah Oppenheim. That entry was on personal identity.
@Scarlett
The obvious answer would be that the farther you keep your brain away from the phenomenon of torture the better. That is why extreme torture triggers unconsciousness. This might have been better proposed as a morality exercise, though not a very good one.
So what refreshing educating or enlightening goal do you believe this devotional was aiming at?
I don’t think that is a reasonable problem…
Sounds like the plot of FaceOff.