Consider this for a moment, if you will.
In psychology researchers use a measure called a "heritability coefficient". The purpose of the HC is to determine the influence genes for a trait. J. Michael Bailey and Richard Pillards studies showed a .5 HC. More specifically they took groups of monozygotic (identical) twins and determined how often both twins were homosexual. It was roughly half the time, whereas dyzoygotic (fraternal) twins only shared the trait 22% of the time and siblings otherwise only 10%. There is a positive correlation to a genetic component.
Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) researchers examined the brains of several homosexual pedophiles and a group of homosexuals. The results showed a lot of subcortical ("deep brain") activation consistent with early childhood trauma in the homosexual pedophiles.
The late "supermasochist" Bob Flanagan suffered cystic fibrosis and was expected to die as a child. He was made to stay in hospital covered in a plastic balloon where doctors would have to extract fluid from his lungs. Bob admitted to stimulating himself to distract himself from the pain. Eventually he was made to leave the hospital and slowly began to find more and more pleasure in mutilating himself. Eventually performing infront of an audience.
The human brain is highly plastic and it is unknown at this time what degree it could change. However it is probably the case that any change in mind correlates with a change in the brain. It is possible that Bob Flanagan and others simply learned to fuse pleasure and pain due to unfortunate life circumstances.
It is also probably the case that the "conscious decision" to act was not conscious at all. Benjamin Libet and John-Dylan Haynes demonstrated the ability to predict a persons decision before they were aware of it. Libet measured the readiness potential (RP) of a motor neuron while subjects chose to press a button whenever they felt the urge. Libet's findings showed that the motor neurons RP began 300ms prior to the subjects awareness. Because motor neurons aren't likely to be involved in decision making Haynes wondered if it could be predicted elsewhere in the brain. Haynes et. al. had subject choose either to press a button with their left hand or their right hand whenever they felt the urge. Using fMRI the researchers discovered they could predict the decision up to 10 seconds before the subject was aware of the choice. On average the subjects pushed a button every 30 seconds.
Scientifically speaking it does not seem likely that consciousness has the ability to make decisions and so the physical structure of the human brain is what make decisions. The number of possible permutations of the human brain exceeds the number of fundamental particles in the known universe.
Researchers have discovered that child abuse causes a methylation of the allele expressing corticotropin-releasing hormone which results in a dampened stress response.
It is possible for the physical structure of the human brain to change through a process of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) obeying all known physical laws. The computational structure of the neo-cortex (neural network) has been synthetically recreated. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can perform cognitive feats such as facial recognition. Researchers have built a silicon retina. One laboratory has started a project to build a cortical column called "Blue Brain".
There is a lot of evidence suggesting that homosexuals, pedophiles, psychopaths, fetishists and so on could not have chosen otherwise.
Brain response to visual sexual stimuli in homosexual pedophiles
pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2186373
Unconscious determinants of free choice (Nature Neuroscience)
psy.uni-muenchen.de/exp/ma/bauer/lehre/Bewusstsein/mainColumnParagraphs/06/document/JDH.pdf
In psychology researchers use a measure called a "heritability coefficient". The purpose of the HC is to determine the influence genes for a trait. J. Michael Bailey and Richard Pillards studies showed a .5 HC. More specifically they took groups of monozygotic (identical) twins and determined how often both twins were homosexual. It was roughly half the time, whereas dyzoygotic (fraternal) twins only shared the trait 22% of the time and siblings otherwise only 10%. There is a positive correlation to a genetic component.
Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) researchers examined the brains of several homosexual pedophiles and a group of homosexuals. The results showed a lot of subcortical ("deep brain") activation consistent with early childhood trauma in the homosexual pedophiles.
The late "supermasochist" Bob Flanagan suffered cystic fibrosis and was expected to die as a child. He was made to stay in hospital covered in a plastic balloon where doctors would have to extract fluid from his lungs. Bob admitted to stimulating himself to distract himself from the pain. Eventually he was made to leave the hospital and slowly began to find more and more pleasure in mutilating himself. Eventually performing infront of an audience.
The human brain is highly plastic and it is unknown at this time what degree it could change. However it is probably the case that any change in mind correlates with a change in the brain. It is possible that Bob Flanagan and others simply learned to fuse pleasure and pain due to unfortunate life circumstances.
It is also probably the case that the "conscious decision" to act was not conscious at all. Benjamin Libet and John-Dylan Haynes demonstrated the ability to predict a persons decision before they were aware of it. Libet measured the readiness potential (RP) of a motor neuron while subjects chose to press a button whenever they felt the urge. Libet's findings showed that the motor neurons RP began 300ms prior to the subjects awareness. Because motor neurons aren't likely to be involved in decision making Haynes wondered if it could be predicted elsewhere in the brain. Haynes et. al. had subject choose either to press a button with their left hand or their right hand whenever they felt the urge. Using fMRI the researchers discovered they could predict the decision up to 10 seconds before the subject was aware of the choice. On average the subjects pushed a button every 30 seconds.
Scientifically speaking it does not seem likely that consciousness has the ability to make decisions and so the physical structure of the human brain is what make decisions. The number of possible permutations of the human brain exceeds the number of fundamental particles in the known universe.
Researchers have discovered that child abuse causes a methylation of the allele expressing corticotropin-releasing hormone which results in a dampened stress response.
It is possible for the physical structure of the human brain to change through a process of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) obeying all known physical laws. The computational structure of the neo-cortex (neural network) has been synthetically recreated. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can perform cognitive feats such as facial recognition. Researchers have built a silicon retina. One laboratory has started a project to build a cortical column called "Blue Brain".
There is a lot of evidence suggesting that homosexuals, pedophiles, psychopaths, fetishists and so on could not have chosen otherwise.
Brain response to visual sexual stimuli in homosexual pedophiles
pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2186373
Unconscious determinants of free choice (Nature Neuroscience)
psy.uni-muenchen.de/exp/ma/bauer/lehre/Bewusstsein/mainColumnParagraphs/06/document/JDH.pdf
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