"A prosthesis does not supplement something, does not replace what would have been there before it and would have been lost: it is added. By prosthesis, we understand (1) ... spatialization, and (2) ... temporalization."
i may be a little off track here, since this is all so new to me, but this digs up some musings i've been having off and on regarding the dopamine reuptake inhibitors and stimulants i take for my (insert mild but ultimately very limiting neurological krenk here). my understanding is that part of what these drugs do is to support the growth and maintenance of new synaptic structures that wouldn't be possible without them. my subjective experience is also that whatever new infrastructure these substances have enabled is dependent on the continued presence of said drugs. a lot of people have called psychiatric drugs a "crutch", but i came to the conclusion that the drugs are more like a chemical prosthesis, in a way, because the action of these externally produced chemicals is giving my body a structure that enhances its function, and said body could not have produced these structures without external aid.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-13 12:09 pm (UTC)i may be a little off track here, since this is all so new to me, but this digs up some musings i've been having off and on regarding the dopamine reuptake inhibitors and stimulants i take for my (insert mild but ultimately very limiting neurological krenk here). my understanding is that part of what these drugs do is to support the growth and maintenance of new synaptic structures that wouldn't be possible without them. my subjective experience is also that whatever new infrastructure these substances have enabled is dependent on the continued presence of said drugs. a lot of people have called psychiatric drugs a "crutch", but i came to the conclusion that the drugs are more like a chemical prosthesis, in a way, because the action of these externally produced chemicals is giving my body a structure that enhances its function, and said body could not have produced these structures without external aid.