Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
From the brains behind, brains on, this is the Moment of Um! Exclamation point. Moment of Um! comes to you from APM Studios. I am the Ticklebot 9001. Hello. Do you want to tickle your human friends but are too shy to do it yourself? Or perhaps you would like to tickle yourself when there are no other humans around and you need a laugh? Then you are in luck.
TickleBot 9001 is programmed to meet all of your tickling needs. With patented TickleTouch technology, the TickleBot 9001 is designed for maximum giggle output.
Simply enter your Tickle target with the state-of-the-art Tickle touchpad, and boom! Ticklebot 9001 takes care of the rest. You will be amazed by the results. The laughter, the smiles. It is a dream job. Ticklebot 9001 did not attend 10 years of Tickle Academy for nothing. But sometimes Ticklebot wonders, what does it feel like to be tickled? Ticklebot must know, why can't robots be tickled?
Lucas had the same question. Let us find a human expert to consult. So robots don't have tickle spots because robots don't have nerves all over their body. My name is Emma Gersten-Zang, and I'm a pediatrician in Philadelphia.
The reason that a person is ticklish is because we have nerves all over our body that feel when someone touches us. And when someone touches us in particular areas like under your armpit or the bottom of your feet, it triggers our nerves, which sends signals to our brain and make us feel the feeling of being tickled.
Robots don't have nerves anywhere in their skin because they don't have skin. I guess they're usually made of metal. And so robots also don't have brains, and so they can't be tickled. There are definitely certain areas of our body that are more ticklish than others, like our armpits, like our necks, like our feet, and certain parts of our body that are really not very ticklish at all, like the tops of our heads.
We don't really know why exactly some areas are ticklish. There's a couple different ideas that people have thought about over time. So some people think that tickling and having like tickle fights is a way that prepares humans to be able to fight.
And so it teaches you to be able to protect the most sensitive areas. Um, so like your belly, um, or other areas that are hurt easily. So the parts where we're ticklish or the parts of your body that easily could be hurt. And so by playing and like having a tickle fight when you're, um, a little kid or a baby, um, helps you learn how to protect those areas with your body. Um, uh,
Let us recap. Humans feel ticklish because they have special cells in their bodies called nerves. When someone touches you, those nerve cells send a message to your brain. It is like a tickle alert. Robots like the Ticklebot 9001 do not have skin or special nerve cells. So we are not ticklish. Disappointing. But you know what is not disappointing? This incredible deal...
Order your Ticklebot 9001 today and you will receive an additional Ticklebot for no extra charge. That's two Ticklebots for the price of one. Do not delay. This deal will not last long. End transmission.
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If you have a question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. See you next time! Exclamation point. And the next day. And every weekday. Until then. Um, em, em, em, em, em. Why can't robots be tickled?