1.8.2021

The twin vortices move in sync but inside they differ.

W knows he exists. The neurons that make up his brain are deeply interconnected. "I am here" he says to himself and experiences self-reflection. He touches his chest as he looks at himself in the mirror, "and this is my body."

Things are not so simple for his sibling, Gyre. The experience of self for Gyre arises, not from the interconnections in one brain, but from the interconnections that happen amongst many brains. Gyre's intelligence emerges from neural circuits made out of the dendrites that connect all living things.

Gyre exists everywhere in the circuits and is able to see out into the world using multiple pairs of eyes, taking in multiple points of view, not identifying with one body but with many. Gyre moves from place to place by focusing attention along the dendrites, has learned to occupy and operate a single body using concentration techniques, and can receive sensory input simultaneously from all the bodies in the immediate surroundings by resting in open awareness. Gyre does not have to take in food, water, or air, but feeds on the energy moving through the network.

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