I don't know if I would go so far as to call it bullshit, but I would like to see the sources/references to this subject. Does anyone have it? I like to wait for the data and study more about it prior to calling something shit.
Amiel
>From: Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se>
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com
>To: extropians@extropy.com
>Subject: Re: Thinking with our hearts
>Date: 12 Jul 1999 16:51:17 +0200
>
>"Theta 8008" <ubergoo@hotmail.com> writes:
>
> > neurocardiologist
> > >have found that 60 to 65% of the cells of the heart are actually
>neural
> > >cells, not muscle cells as was previously believed. They are identical
> > >to the neural cells in the brain, operating through the same
>connecting
> > >links called ganglia, with the same axonal and dendritic connections
>that
> > >take place in the brain, as well as through the very same kinds of
> > >neurotransmitters found in the brain.
>
>Huh? Any sources for this? The Purkinje fibers are muscle fibers that
>also act as signal transductors, using gap junctions to send signals
>quickly but not act as switches. The electrical of the activity is
>also very simple.
>
> > >Quite literally, in other words, there is a "brain" in the heart,
>whose
> > >ganglia are linked to every major organ in the body, to the entire
> > >muscle spindle system that uniquely enables humans to express their
> > >emotions.
>
>Que? What is the evidence for this? As far as I remember, it is not
>connected to anything by the vagus nerve and sympathetic nervous
>system, and I haven't heard of any efferent connections from the
>heart.
>
> > >About half of the heart's neural cells are involved in
> > >translating information sent to it from all over the body so that it
>can
> > >keep the body
> > >working as one harmonious whole. And the other half make up a very
> > >large, unmediated neural connection with the emotional brain in our
>head
>
>This sounds rather suspicious. To be honest, it sounds like complete
>bullshit given the effects (or rather non-effects) of pacemakers and
>heart transplants on emotions.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
>asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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