Can a brain be kept alive and functioning outside a body?

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the feasibility of keeping a brain alive and functioning outside of a body, exploring theoretical scenarios involving artificial support systems, sensory deprivation, and the implications of connecting multiple brains. The scope includes conceptual and speculative reasoning rather than established scientific consensus.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether it is impossible to keep a brain alive outside a body, given the hypothetical use of an artificial heart and blood transport systems to provide necessary nutrients and oxygen.
  • There is speculation about the subjective experience of a brain with no sensory input, including questions about consciousness and dreaming.
  • Participants propose scenarios involving the connection of multiple brains, questioning whether they would function as a single entity or produce chaotic thoughts.
  • One participant emphasizes the current lack of methods to safely remove and sustain a brain outside a body, suggesting that the questions posed are largely unanswerable.
  • Humorous and off-topic remarks are made, including a reference to fictional characters and scenarios, indicating a mix of serious inquiry and lighthearted banter.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the feasibility of keeping a brain alive outside a body, with some asserting it is impossible while others explore the theoretical implications. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing ideas and no consensus reached.

Contextual Notes

The discussion is limited by the current scientific understanding and technological capabilities regarding brain preservation and the complexities of consciousness. Many assumptions are made without empirical support.

KingKai
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
This is not a joke.

Is it by all accounts impossible to do this, supposing that an artificial heart with artificial blood transport systems (that provide oxygen and all needed nutrients) were used to keep the cells from dying.

Also, assuming the brain was yours, what would it feel like to have no sensory input whatsoever? Would you feel alive and conscious? Would you be dreaming?


Also, what would happen if you hooked up two brains together? How about a hundred brains? a thousand? via physical neural networks and synapses. Would the resultant organism think as one, or would its thoughts be chaotic and cluttered?
 
Biology news on Phys.org
What if I wanted to have my brain transported into the body of a 6'2'' athlete with a rippling 6-pack and a handsome face?
 
See monkey head transplants on youtube.
 
(and no, currently there's no method to keep a brain alive in a vat or whatnot.)
 
My daughter asserts that her mother is the most reasonable person she knows. Since that is not my experience of her I can only conclude that she has undergone a complete brain transplant.
 
KingKai said:
This is not a joke.
Seriously? King Kai wants to be Doctor Gero ?
:-p
Or is it Doctor Wheelo?
[The post assumes you're a DBZ fan, if not ignore it...:redface:]
 
KingKai said:
This is not a joke.

Is it by all accounts impossible to do this, supposing that an artificial heart with artificial blood transport systems (that provide oxygen and all needed nutrients) were used to keep the cells from dying.

We do not have the means to safely remove a brain from a body and keep it alive for any length of time.

KingKai said:
Also, assuming the brain was yours, what would it feel like to have no sensory input whatsoever? Would you feel alive and conscious? Would you be dreaming?

This question is unanswerable because it essentially boils down to "what would it be like to do something we don't know how to do".

KingKai said:
Also, what would happen if you hooked up two brains together? How about a hundred brains? a thousand? via physical neural networks and synapses. Would the resultant organism think as one, or would its thoughts be chaotic and cluttered?

"Hooking" brains together is so science fiction the question is even more unanswerable than the previous.

There's nothing really to discuss here.
 

Similar threads

Medical Brain transplant (Whole-body transplant ), feasibility, how and estimates when
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
17K
Medical Can Braindead Patients Really Come Back to Life?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
4K
Can there be Artificial Consciousness and Emotion?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
What Are the Evolutionary and Developmental Functions of Dreams?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
10K
What or where is our real sense of self?
  • · Replies 71 ·
3
Replies
71
Views
17K
Key papers in computational neuroscience
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
12K
Graduate The Kantian Wall - The Meaning of Space, Time, and Mass in Modern Physics
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
6K
Can Evolved State: Dichotomy Capture Your Imagination?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
Graduate Wellcome to the desert of the real
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
How Can the Philosophies of Great Physicists Guide Us Beyond the Standard Model?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
4K