Human Beings Are Body-Territory
Human Beings Are Body-Territory
All science begins in a body.
Before there are theories, formulas, religions, technologies, economies, or artificial intelligence, there is a living organism perceiving the world. This organism breathes, feels hunger, experiences fear, seeks belonging, remembers, forgets, imagines, and moves. For this reason, Decolonial Neuroscience begins with a simple yet profound statement:
Human beings are Body-Territory.
Body-Territory means that every person lives the world from within a situated body. This body carries DNA, metabolism, history, culture, language, memory, belonging, social marks, and material conditions of existence. Human beings perceive reality through these internal spaces.
When someone sees a tree, studies organic chemistry, listens to music, or remembers a loved one, these experiences occur as representations within the Body-Territory. Each representation involves imagery, movement, bodily sensation, and qualia—the lived brightness of experience.
The hypothesis proposed here is that human experience unfolds through five dimensions:
Three spatial dimensions;
One dimension of movement;
One dimension of qualia.
Space allows something to possess form and position.
Movement allows transformation.
Qualia provide the felt value of experience.
Knowledge, therefore, is more than correct information.
Knowledge is a living space organized within a Body-Territory.
Consider an adolescent sitting down to study organic chemistry. Their goal is to create internal spaces related to molecules, chemical bonds, carbon chains, and reactions. Their Body-Territory must sustain attention, working memory, mental imagery, and reasoning processes.
Yet while searching for a concept online, they open a social media platform. One video leads to another. One emotional stimulus recruits the next. Two hours later, the body has continued learning—but perhaps not chemistry.
Instead, it may have strengthened spaces associated with:
rapid context switching;
immediate rewards;
social comparison;
fragmented curiosity;
emotional stimulation.
The question is no longer:
Did the student study?
A deeper question emerges:
Which spaces grew within the Body-Territory during those two hours?
Here we encounter the contrast between DNA Intelligence and Technological Intelligence.
DNA Intelligence builds the body that feels, regulates, forgets, remembers, directs attention, organizes movement, and transforms perception into existence.
Technological Intelligence—books, maps, algorithms, social media platforms, databases, and AI systems—organizes external representations, symbols, and information structures.
Technology can expand human knowledge.
It can organize scientific articles, simulate molecules, generate hypotheses, translate languages, and accelerate discovery.
Yet it can also compete for attention and occupy internal spaces without necessarily contributing to meaningful understanding.
Artificial Intelligence processes data.
Body-Territory generates experience.
This is where evidence-based science becomes essential.
EEG, fNIRS, HRV, respiration, GSR, EMG, eye-tracking, hyperscanning, and behavioral observation do not directly measure internal representational spaces. Instead, they provide measurable traces of the physiological and behavioral consequences associated with their activation.
A responsible Decolonial Neuroscience does not seek to transform every hypothesis into a universal law.
Instead, it asks:
Under which boundary conditions does a phenomenon emerge?
In which bodies?
In which territories?
During which tasks?
Through which technologies?
Using which measurements?
Every piece of evidence is situated.
Every form of knowledge possesses limits of validity.
Every Body-Territory perceives reality through the spaces it can activate, sustain, expand, transform, or release.
For this reason, the central question guiding this series of blogs is:
Which spaces are we cultivating within our Body-Territories when we say we are learning, working, researching, praying, voting, creating, or simply living?
Scientific References (Post-2021)
Palermo, L. et al. (2023). The Body in Neurosciences: Representation, Perception and Space Processing.
Contribution:
Explores bodily representation, spatial processing, and perception as fundamental components of human cognition.
Parma, C. et al. (2024). An Overview of Bodily Awareness Representation and Interoception.
Contribution:
Reviews contemporary evidence on interoception, body awareness, and the role of bodily signals in conscious experience.
Barrett, L.; Stout, D. (2024). Minds in Movement: Embodied Cognition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
Contribution:
Discusses how cognition emerges through body-environment interaction and examines implications for AI and embodied intelligence.
Sandini, G. et al. (2024). Artificial Cognition vs. Artificial Intelligence for Next-Generation Autonomous Systems.
Contribution:
Distinguishes embodied cognition from conventional AI, emphasizing first-person interaction and bodily grounding.
Almarzouki, A. F. et al. (2022). Social Media Usage, Working Memory, and Depression.
Contribution:
Investigates relationships between social media engagement, working memory processes, and psychological outcomes.
Chen, J. et al. (2024). A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the fNIRS-EEG Dual-Modality Imaging.
Contribution:
Reviews combined EEG-fNIRS approaches for investigating neural activity, cortical metabolism, cognition, and behavior.
Foundational Statement of Decolonial Neuroscience
Every science happens within a Body-Territory.
Every piece of evidence emerges under specific boundary conditions.
Every human experience unfolds through space, movement, and qualia.
NeuroDesafío LATAM — Preguntas para un Mundo Nuevo
NeuroDesafio LATAM — Questions for a New World
NeuroDesafio LATAM — Perguntas para um Mundo Novo
Neurociencia Decolonial: La Ciencia del Cuerpo-Territorio
Decolonial Neuroscience: The Science of the Body-Territory
Neurociência Decolonial: Ciência do Corpo-Território
EEG, fNIRS y la Materialidad de los Espacios de Representación
EEG, fNIRS and the Materiality of Representational Spaces
EEG, fNIRS e a Materialidade dos Espaços
Conocimiento Extractivo y Conocimiento Existencial
Extractive Knowledge and Existential Knowledge
Conhecimento Extrativista e Conhecimento Existencial
Tecnología Como Extensión de los Espacios
Technology as an Extension of Spaces
Tecnologia Como Extensão dos Espaços
Jiwasa y los Espacios Compartidos
Jiwasa e os Espaços Compartilhados
Yay Ha Miy - El Arte de Crear Nuevos Espacios de Existencia
Yay Ha Miy - The Art of Creating New Spaces of Existence
Yay Ha Miy - A Arte de Criar Novos Espaços de Existência
La Memoria como Territorio Vivo
La Atención: La Energía de los Espacios
Attention: The Energy of Spaces
Atenção - A Energia dos Espaços
Utupe, Pei Utupe y Xapiri: Imagen Cerebral, Alma y Representación
Utupe, Pei Utupe, and Xapiri: Brain Images, Soul, and Representation
Utupe, Pei Utupe e Xapiri: Imagem Cerebral, Alma e Representação
El Tiempo como Movimiento de Espacios
Time as the Movement of Spaces
O Tempo Como Movimento de Espaços
Las Cinco Dimensiones de la Experiencia
The Five Dimensions of Experience
As Cinco Dimensões da Experiência
El Ser Humano es Cuerpo-Territorio
Human Beings Are Body-Territory
O Ser Humano é Corpo-Territorio
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