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by rolisz 963 days ago
Would that mean that if we had decentralized pulmonary control, we wouldn't be able to hold our breath?
2 comments

Not necessarily. The heart is autonomous but is nevertheless connected to the central nervous system and can be controlled by the brain to some extent. It could be the same for the pulmonary system. By the way, you can hold your breath for some time, and some people with extreme willpower can do it until passing out, but you can't do it until dying, there are reflexes hard-wired deep into the brain preventing that.
Basically, yes. Nice catch, that completely slipped my mind.

So decentralized pulmonary system would be a huge drowning hazard.