Wow what an incredibly difficult way to live, even stranger that the person you share a brain with you will never physically see with your own eyes, because of the join angle. Hopefully one day scientists figure out a safe way to separate them.
Why separate them? It sounds like they're so deeply interconnected that it would be a destructive as separating your own arm from your body or having a lobotomy.
All humans have difficulty living. We have to walk and eat and sleep and can't ever stop breathing or we'll die. These girls just have it different. Maybe harder but since they haven't experienced any different, they're probably not too fussed, just as we don't hope to avoid having to breathe all day long.
How are you equating breathing to be as difficult as being physically connected to another person 24/7 exactly? Additionally because of the join angle, you can never hold your head straight, meaning your view of the world is constantly from a 45 angle.
The world is not designed with you in mind - you cannot drive, likely not able to sit comfortably on an airplane, or even walk up stairs or go through single doors without turning to the side. Try putting food in your mouth from an angle or even having a drink. What about just sitting in a chair? And how will you have relationships with other people? Equating all this to breathing is a serious lacking of empathy on your part.
> you can never hold your head straight, meaning your view of the world is constantly from a 45 angle.
This is completely irrelevant. Even adult brain can adjust to seeing the world upside down pretty quickly. With 45 deg angle they could have better depth perception of horizontal objects (not to mention seeing out of 3 or 4 eyes).
> The world is not designed with you in mind
That's the real problem although people without legs, arms or sight have worse and they manage.
> not able to sit comfortably on an airplane
Nobody can do THAT. Also epilepsy and diabetes probably is more inconvenient.
> Try putting food in your mouth from an angle or even having a drink.
I think you severly underestimate brain adaptability. One of them can use 3 legs and you wory about eating and drinking at an angle like nobody is muching and drinking through a straw lying on the side on the couch in front of the TV.
>What about just sitting in a chair
I think in public most chairs are in rows and at home you can put two side by side or sit on a couch.
> And how will you have relationships with other people?
I think that's the real problem and the diabetes and epilepsy and possibly increased chance of some circluatory problems in their brains.
All they know is the angle, so their mind probably adjusts. There were experiments with a helmet that flipped your world upside down, and it turns out the brain adjusts quickly and presents things right side up.
Furthermore, these girls can see out 3 or 4 eyes, depending on the girl, so you are the one stuck in a limited view of the world, not them.
Regarding other limitations, yes, they are also bothersome, but if you've known nothing else, it probably isn't so bad. We all have limitations that others would find a cause for despair.
Jeez, You're the one with a serious lack of empathy. People with physical disabilities aren't worthless vegetables.
These twins have only experienced life this way thus it's their version of normal. Conjoined twins who live into adulthood don't have a particularly poor quality of life simply from being conjoined (rather than the health effects). They can usually learn to do most of the same things as singletons. If you ask them, many say they prefer being conjoined.[1] It's definitely personal for everyone involved.
I'm reminded of the study that found quadriplegics and lottery winners having basically the same level of happiness one year later.
I'm sure there are many, many challenges for them but pointing to them saying "your life is terrible, you have to drink from an angle" shows a profound lack of empathy and full and complete inability to see anything from a perspective outside your own and is quite shocking.
>And how will you have relationships with other people?
Like everyone else, just a little different. The famous conjoined twins known as "The Siamese Twins" that traveled with PT Barnum both married and both had double digit children each. Conjoined twins may also not feel quite as much of a need to seek out romantic relationships as singletons since they already have a life partner attached.
Yeah, the world is also not designed for people with no legs, or people with no arms, etc. Yet people with those handicaps demonstrate amazing abilities to adapt and with the help of technology, they can overcome their limitations even better.
in and of itself their condition is tragically limiting.
making matters worse, people measure their condition relative to others, and it will dawn on them as they get old what a terrible hand they've been dealt.
In my experience of talking with people with physical and learning differences it is unusual for them to take the "terrible hand" stance; this is much more common for people who suffer from emotional differences and mental health problems. People who are blind or wheelchair bound tend to say things like "yes it's hard for me to do some things but I've found a way to be happy which is more than a lot of people".
I've had my life enriched by contact with people like that, so assigning them "a negative value" would be something that I would hotly dispute.
We all have limitations imposed on us, sometimes by the time of our birth - no one on Hacker News today will ever travel to another star, or (I believe) speak to general AI, but perhaps our decedents will. Other limitations are economic, I am not a billionaire and will never climb Everest, or just talent based - my daughter plays the Cello, I've tried to learn it but I can't make it go like she does.
If it were practical to separate them, it should really be up to them, once they're adults, but if I were in that position, I could see wanting to be separated for physical safety, if nothing else.
Two bodies connected only at the skull seems extremely dangerous to me. For example, if one of them trips and falls, it seems like that could easily break the neck of the other.
I doubt it will ever be possible separate them. Their neural networks are intertwined. Presumably, so are their vascular networks. Even if they could be separated without killing them, they'd both likely end up with severe brain damage.
"Direct" eye contact with a mirror is good enough.
Maybe you are confusing looking at someone's face and eyes with a posture that faces the other person: it is normally an important element of body language, but if it's impossible it ceases to be meaningful.
