#external brain

Inside my head, I have a brain 

It’s gray, and kind of squishes 

It makes me think all kinds of thoughts 

Like questions, hopes, and wishes 

But did you know it’s not alone? 

I have another brain! 

You don’t believe it? That’s OK 

Allow me to explain 

My squishy brain does quite a lot 

It makes me talk and blink 

It lets me move and see and breathe 

It lets me dream and think 

It’s harder work than some suppose 

A truth that’s seldom known 

I have my limits, as do you 

When thinking all alone 

When facing thoughts too big to face 

Do I give up in defeat? 

Nope, instead I share it with a friend 

And here’s where things get neat! 

You see, ideas from me to you 

Must first all be translated 

Into words or charts or signs or sounds 

To be heard and then debated 

For no two brains think just the same 

There is no carbon copy 

And the way we share can have its flaws 

It’s sometimes downright sloppy 

But there’s a perk to all this fuss 

As we struggle to convey 

For ideas transform as we converse 

When exchanges are two-way 

See, what I send is not exact 

To what’s stored in my head 

And what you receive is different still 

You hear something else instead 

You might at first feel quite confused 

And seek some clarity 

Then your brain wraps a package up 

And sends it back to me 

This back and forth can happen fast 

Mere seconds in some cases 

For it’s not just words that we employ 

It’s gestures, tones, and faces 

You may be asking at this point, 

And after all I’ve said 

“What’s any of this got to do 

With a brain outside the head?” 

Consider, when you break it down 

What really is a brain? 

It’s an engine that takes input in 

Then refines it for your gain 

That transformation process though 

It goes through many phases 

And when it hits the sharing stage 

That’s when the brilliance blazes 

Like dough with yeast left out to prove 

Or cheese left to ferment 

A subtle change evolves our thoughts 

By simply being sent 

And like the cultures in the cheese 

Or microbes in the dough 

We may not see this hidden force 

That makes our genius grow 

Though yet unseen, we may still prove 

For its absence shows us that 

Just like a dough without its yeast 

A mind cut off goes flat 

Our culture spins some silly tales 

Of inventors isolated 

And visionaries alone in thought 

But that story’s overrated 

For behind each giant of the mind 

The Einsteins and the Hawkings 

Are fewer apples on the heads 

And far more chats and talkings 

Our squishy brains are miracles 

Of that I have no doubt 

But perhaps our other brains deserve 

A chance to shine and shout 

We test in school with heads held down 

With firm and stern directions 

To prove our worth we’re on our own 

No talking, no connections 

Perhaps in time we’ll change our minds 

And focus on instead 

That force where untapped genius lies