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[quote name="Ray, of Light"][quote name="I need clarification"]Seriously, though - these are brains that are exactly like regular brains except that they've only ever been exposed to pure mathematical instructions, etc., to help make good stock picks? Or something? While I'm as big a fan of Skinner as the next abused child, I think if we've learned anything from countless science fiction novels and even more presidental debates, it's that a brain with even the most restictive access to external input imagineable will sooner or later begin to wonder what the hell is going on. When it doesn't get satisfactory answers, why should we trust the results we get from it? It may even be clever enough to slowly but surely "mis-guess" on a number of stock picks significant enough to deplete capital without notice.[/quote] It may help to picture the organ as a highly efficient storage device and analog computer, hard-wired with a need for certain chemicals and a capacity to adapt and satisfy those needs. Whatever else it is, we know it's that, at least. I hypothesize that we are close to reverse-engineering the interface, and tapping some portion of its potential in the same way an employer does today, but with far less overhead (haha "overhead"!). Whether or not that path is marked by "entire lost crops" due to depression or life finding a way or whatever is immaterial.[/quote]