"Stanislaw Lem - Ijon Tichy 05 - Peace on Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lem Stanislaw)

"The question is poorly phrased. Imagine twins, who from birth do nothing but saw wood with a
two-handled saw. They work well together, otherwise they would be unable to saw. Take the saw from
them, and they become like you in your present state."
"But each twin, whether he saws or not, has one and only one consciousness," I said,
disappointed. "Professor, your colleagues in America gave me plenty of such metaphors. Including the
one about the twins and the saw."
"Of course," said McIntyre, winking at me with his left eye, and I wondered whether he too had
something severed. "My American colleagues are as green as a field of corn and their metaphors are a
dime a dozen. I mention the twins one on purpose; it comes from an American and is misleading. If we
were to show the brain graphically, yours would resemble a large letter Y, because you still have a
homogeneous brain stem and midbrain. It's the downstroke of the upsilon, while the arms of the letter are
the divided hemispheres. Do you understand? Intuitively one can see --" the professor broke off with a
groan because I kicked him in the kneecap.
"Sorry, it wasn't me, it was my left leg," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to. . ."
 McIntyre gave an understanding smile, but there was something forced about it, like the grimace
of a psychiatrist who pretends that the madman biting him is a fine fellow. He pulled his chair back a little.
"The right hemisphere does tend to be more aggressive than the left," he said, rubbing his knee.
"Would you mind keeping your legs crossed, and arms too? It will make our conversation easier. . ."
"I've tried, but they go limp. Anyway that upsilon business, excuse me, doesn't explain anything.
Where is the consciousness -- under the division, on it, over it, where?"
"That cannot be precisely determined," said the professor, still massaging his knee. "The brain,
Mr. Tichy, is made up of a great number of functional subsystems, which in a normal person connect in
various ways to perform various tasks. In your case the highest systems have been permanently
disconnected and thus cannot communicate with each other."
"And about subsystems too I've heard a hundred times. I don't want to be impolite, professor, or
at least my left hemisphere, the one talking to you now, doesn't, but I'm still in the dark. I walk normally, I
eat, read, sleep, the only problem is I have to keep an eye on my left hand and leg because without
warning they'll misbehave. What I want to know is who is misbehaving. If it's my brain, why am I
unaware of it?"
"Because the hemisphere that's doing it is mute, Mr. Tichy. The center of speech resides in the
left --"
On the floor between us lay wires from the different instruments McIntyre had used to examine
me. I had noticed my left foot playing with these wires. It looped one, thick and shiny black, around its
ankle, but I didn't think much about this until suddenly the foot jerked sharply backward and the wire
turned out to be wound around the legs of the chair upon which the professor was sitting. The chair
reared and the professor crashed to the linoleum. But he was an experienced doctor and disciplined
scientist because he picked himself up from the floor and said in an even voice:
"It's nothing. Please don't be concerned. The right hemisphere is the one with spatial ability, so it's
adept at this type of function. I would ask you again, Mr. Tichy, to sit well away from the desk, the
wires, everything. It will facilitate our deliberation as to the therapy indicated."
"I only want to know where my consciousness is," I replied, freeing the wire from my foot, which
wasn't easy because the foot pressed hard on the floor. "Was it I who pulled your chair out from under
you, and if not I, then who?"
"Your lower left extremity, governed by the right hemisphere." The professor adjusted his glasses
on his nose, moved his chair farther away from me, and after a moment's hesitation stood behind the
chair instead of sitting down. Which of my hemispheres suspected that the next time he might
counterattack?
"We could go on like this until Judgment Day," I said, feeling my left side tense up. Uneasy, I
crossed my legs and my arms. McIntyre, watching me carefully, continued in a pleasant voice.
"The left hemisphere is dominant thanks to the speech center. Talking with you now, I'm speaking