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Tool Use Is Just a Trick of the Mind

Posted by kdawson on from the my-tool-myself dept.

TwistedOne151 writes to recommend a ScienceNOW article describing the work of a team of Italian neurobiologists who have found the roots of the capacity for tool use in the primate brain: the brain treats the tool as part of the body. The experiment as described is passing clever.

21 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. No, it's true... by Gazzonyx · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've met some people who really are tools! Fortunately, they're usually marketing.

    --

    If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.

  2. Re:Define:tool by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, essentially, a computer is an extension of my body?
    yes. you just communicated to all of us using a computer just as you would have spoken to us. it's an extension of your ability to communicate ideas like your voice or hand signals or any other method a human can use to communicate. heck, half of us or more have momorized where the keys are and don't bother to look down while we type, it's gotten to the point where we don't need to think about it much more than we would if we were speaking.
    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  3. Re:Cheap shot incoming! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's a penius?

  4. Re:Cheap shot incoming! by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 4, Funny
    What's a penius?

    ...Eleven quatloos, at the current exchange rate.

  5. Too Many Jokes by krgallagher · · Score: 4, Funny
    "have found the roots of the capacity for tool use in the primate brain: the brain treats the tool as part of the body."

    Wow! Where do I start? I think I'll just say that I have always considered my tool to be an extension of my body, but I do not think it's root is in my brain.

    Sorry, I just could not resist.

    --

    Insert Generic Sig Here:

  6. Re:Define:tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    the part of your brain that realizes that it's utilizing a potato shaped device to simulate a hand gun or a machine gun on a 2D plane.

  7. Re:Cheap shot incoming! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  8. Re:Seen it by mevets · · Score: 2, Funny

    cool. When a bell rang, did you suddenly feel hungry? If there was no bell, did you feel like you were somehow missing out on something beyond your grasp?

  9. Re:People are fantastic by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Funny
    BTW, is there anything known about diseases where people don't see tools as an extension of the body?

    Yes, they have special schools for these unfortunate people. The schools are called MBA schools and the people are called upper management.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  10. Re:People are fantastic by i_liek_turtles · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nonsense, they are tools themselves!

  11. Re:Define:tool by Hojima · · Score: 2, Funny

    So tools are an extension of the body eh? I guess that explains my skill with my penis as I swat flies out of the sky with my cum shots.

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    Help fight spam
  12. Re:Define:tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The micro is strong in you.

  13. Re:Define:tool by doogieb · · Score: 5, Funny

    "heck, half of us or more have momorized where the keys" - surely +1 Irony

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    Doogie. If you can read this, my sig fell off
  14. Re:Define:tool by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, in the first case, you're a proud american learning to protect his family, and in the second, you're a terrorist training on a murder simulator. Oops, I thought you were asking about moral differences, my bad.

  15. Re:Define:tool by CmdrGravy · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a similar behaviour pattern, if I'm stressed out about something I unplug the computer and take it home with me where we share a nice warm bath and then snuggle down under the sheets in bed together, sometimes we will interact directly or sometimes if com'puty is tired I can just interact with myself.

  16. Re:Define:tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, isn't that exactly what the Michigan Militia claims when the cops spot them training?

  17. Re:Same as a car by Sciryl+Llort · · Score: 5, Funny

    You chose the wrong tool. When going through the desert, you should ride an anonymous equine creature. You'll enjoy the dry weather. Be sure to make a note of your personal details and keep it safe, as a lack of external hostility may provoke amnesia.

  18. Re:Define:tool by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    I highly doubt that a primate could process enough information to write even a single word on a typewriter
    O RLY? What are you then - some kind of lizard?
    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  19. Re:Define:tool by MrNaz · · Score: 1, Funny

    I like to think of the brain as a very large FPGA

    So when I had to drag my friend out of the bar that time he was unable to stand or speak properly it wasn't because he was drunk, it was because he'd lost his encryption keys and the output from his mouth was just cyphertext?

    --
    I hate printers.
  20. Re:Define:tool by steelfood · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's referring to the other half.

    --
    "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
  21. Re:I can play piano by thinking of the sound by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    What instrument do you play? The skinflute. It feels just like a part of my body!
    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton