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Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

technologyreview.com

21–30 of 108 posts

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#21

> If it were tried on a person, it might mean awakening in the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber It does mean exactly that, person or pig. This is the true stuff of nightmares.

You realize that there are governments out there that probably wouldn’t think twice about trying this on a human

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#22
post #8

The terrifying implications of this tech makes me shudder. Science fiction has beaten me to considering the potential for abuse. I'm picturing Hyperion meets Brainship with some Altered Carbon thrown in. It hurts my brain even to contemplate.

On a more positive outcome, in the Butlerian Jihad version seems like there are uses.

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#23

> If it were tried on a person, it might mean awakening in the ultimate sensory deprivation chamber It does mean exactly that, person or pig. This is the true stuff of nightmares.

You realize that there are governments out there that probably wouldn’t think twice about trying this on a human

Sadly they may have already tried it and hopefully failed.

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because this could be some sort of bizarre unending Harlan Ellisonesque torture. Torturing animals is has been considered immoral for many, many, many years.

And yet is done everyday for food production.

Hey, can I keep your mind alive and disconnect it from your body, and just, you know, try stuff out, while you endure some kind of surreal waking nightmare, forever looking out from a terrarium with lidless eyes?

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#25
post #4

And what do we suppose they are experiencing? It may well be absolutely terrifying. Beyond the normal torture of factory farming.

The article mentions that the pig brains are comatose, and that the scientists involved say that future experiments should seek to maintain a comatose state.

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because this could be some sort of bizarre unending Harlan Ellisonesque torture. Torturing animals is has been considered immoral for many, many, many years.

And yet is done everyday for food production.

Sometimes it happens as a side-effect of cost-cutting, but it's not desired. The goal is to have animals wander around a barn/field for months to years and then get instantly killed before being cut up.

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet is done everyday for food production.

Hey, can I keep your mind alive and disconnect it from your body, and just, you know, try stuff out, while you endure some kind of surreal waking nightmare, forever looking out from a terrarium with lidless eyes?

It seems that way now, but if the startup hits it big, I'll make millions!

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#28
post #17

This is too much. Uncrossable lines must be drawn immediately. Humanity cannot afford to "wing it" when it comes to ethics and morality at this scale. There needs to be clear lines where crossing means the highest criminal consequence to the researcher. And people funding it. And it needs to be a global effort. Everything needs a balance.

Why is this an uncrossable line, though? Clearly this research is meant to be a first/early step towards preserving brains in the event of traumatic bodily injury. Is that not a worthwhile goal? Is it outweighed by some possible nefarious abuse of this technique?

There are obviously major issues to work out still, but I don't see how else this research can advance but with animal experiments.

Re: Researchers are keeping pig brains alive outside the body

#30
post #8

The terrifying implications of this tech makes me shudder. Science fiction has beaten me to considering the potential for abuse. I'm picturing Hyperion meets Brainship with some Altered Carbon thrown in. It hurts my brain even to contemplate.

I'm torn between wanting to be cryogenically frozen and cremated.
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