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We tend to think of the brain as being intelligent, and that
the brain controls the body, while the body is just dumb
flesh. Indeed, the brain is a network of almost infinitely
interconnected neurons; it has been called the most
complex object in the known universe. But the whole body
is a network too, which is why the psychologist Michael
Hyland has put forward his “intelligent body” hypothesis.
Dr Hyland takes further the idea that there is no strict
division between brain and the rest of the body. He proposes
that intelligence is not confined to the brain, but rather it is
distributed throughout the body in an extended network.
Medicine, if it is to get to grips with health rather than
just confront disease, must comprehend the living body’s
extraordinary ability to maintain conditions stable enough
for life to happen at all. Too hot or too cold, too acid or
too alkaline, too many waste products or not enough
nutrients, and we die. The same goes for the body’s internal
architecture and outer form, for they are not fixed, but are
constantly broken down and rebuilt. The sense of self, too,
although it seems stable, is formed out of a whirl of sense
impressions and memories.
At a biochemical level, the properties that emerge from
the network provide its ability to self-organise, control
the myriad chemical reactions that provide energy and
produce the living tissues. At the structural level, these
so-called “emergent” properties allow the body to move
through space and constantly reconstruct itself; at the level
of awareness they give us the ability to sense, respond to,
and reflect on our experiences.