Nervous System Mastery: Twinship, but with no brain is the same vibes
I am an identical twin and this has heavily influenced my interest in the sense of self, psychology and neuroscience. To some this may sound rather ridiculous but I have found my own sense of self entangled with my twin- where do I start and my twin ends? From the get go we share genes, the womb, nutrients, experiences - a biological & psychological synchronicity that is very much embodied not simply enskulled.
Twinships
So there are identical twins (monozygotic) who share 100% of their genes, fraternal twins (dizygotic) who share approximately 50% of their gene. Now there are also twins who are not identical … but have more ‘twinage’ than fraternal twins known as sesquizygotic twins. Although very rare it can occur when a single egg is fertilised by two sperm, this triploid egg then splits. They hold 100% of maternal DNA and part of the paternal DNA. There is also mirror twins (identical twins with reverse features) and conjoined twins.
Regardless of the type of twinship, each twin will have their own distinct neuronal signature, producing their own sense of self and personalised construction of reality. Here are a couple of perfect examples:
First one comes from my lived experience. My twin and I are very similar in many ways, we look and sound similar. We have many similar world views and a similar sense of humour. But our paths through life have been very different. One has two children, one is childless. One is married to a man the other married to woman. One can be a loner the other not.
The second comes from research with a set of identical twins with Urbach-Wiethe disease (UWD), as a result both had their amygdala destroyed when they were 12 years old. A reminder - the amydala is an almond shaped structure, it is part of the limbic system network involved with emotion (e.g. fear), memory & learning. Even though they share the same genes and live in same environment how they sense and perceive fear is completely different. One twin can only ‘feel’ fear under very extreme circumstances, in nuanced conditions whereas the other twin has typical fear experiences, her nervous system has found an alternative option to generate fear even though her amygdala does not work. This is degeneracy, lets take a closer look.
Options, options, options
Degeneracy is found throughout biology from the workings inside a single cell to any mental (& physical) event. It gives robust and adaptive systems that provides us with multiple options ranging from quantum to psychology. This in turn means that even when we are just sitting in a cafe, putting our hand out, many times, reaching for that coffee or cake (or both;), each time potentially different groups of neurons produce the same action. Likewise with emotions (e.g. happiness, anger, shame & joy ) they are produced by multiple spatiotemporal patterns in different groups of neurons interconnected in a highly complex network. It really brings home the dynamism of the nervous system and the natural world around us. Furthermore it underscores the notion that no brain is the same, despite genetic and environmental similarity even with identical twins there are infinite remarkable routes playing into our cognitive, emotional, perceptual and behavioural capacity.
Western science is reductionist, one dimensional, patriarchal, colonial, we are obsessed with categorising and over simplification. In many ways degeneracy does not really fit into this model. This epistemological hegemony really needs a revolution. Our own electrochemical wonder producing our sense of self in relation to physics, biology, time and space works best when we embrace the complexity as much as the simplicity. Keep working with your nervous system to understand what works and what doesn’t for you. Be kind to your sense of self and the natural world around it.