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Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

bbc.co.uk

21–30 of 207 posts

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#21
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pain exists in the brain, not the body.

No matter how hard I think, I cannot seem to manifest any true pain in my mind. I doubt a pig could either.

Your sensory inputs remained connected at all times. That absence is unprecedented in its whole, but we do know that amputated members can hurt, and not just the stump.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#24
post #4

I don’t see why they bothered drugging the brains. Even if they became conscious, the pig’s bodies are dead and gone. There is nothing to feel, one is simply alone with their thoughts, perhaps even dreams.

Pain exists in the brain, not the body.

All response experience exists within the brain, yes, but it is only ever made possible through external stimulus. The brain itself doesn't feel anything, but generates those feelings as a response to events outside of itself.

"If it seems strange that nerve signals coming from the back can represent vision, bear in mind that your own sense of vision is carried by nothing but millions of nerve signals that just happen to travel along different cables. Your brain is encased in absolute blackness in the vault of your skull. It doesn’t see anything. All it knows are these little signals and nothing else. And yet you perceive the world in shades of brightness and colors. Your brain is in the dark but your mind constructs the light." — David Eagleman in his book Incognito.

Without the nerves connecting your toe to your brain, you are unlikely to feel the otherwise agonizing pain of having had stubbed it against a coffee table.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#25
post #15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don’t know what a brain disconnected from all sensory inputs feels. It could be agonizing pain for all that we know.

...they are pigs.

Is the implication that pigs don’t experience pain, or that we shouldn’t care?

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#26
>a specially designed liquid round the brain, which contained a synthetic blood to carry oxygen and drugs to slow or reverse the death of brain cells.

I had no idea humanity achieved synthetic blood. This is from the study:

>a haemoglobin-based, acellular, non-coagulative, echogenic, and cytoprotective perfusate that promotes recovery from anoxia

Am I the only one excited by what viable synthetic blood might mean for blood banks?

Study is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1099-1

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#27
post #23

Imagine donating your body to science and then waking up in a lab as a brain in a vat. "A Living Soul" by P. C. Jersild is amazing sci-fi book exploring this. https://www.amazon.com/Living-Norvik-Press-English-Swedish/d... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._C._Jersild

“We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?”

- Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7

Activity Recorded M.Y. 2302.22467

TERMINATION OF SPECIMEN ADVISED

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#29

>a specially designed liquid round the brain, which contained a synthetic blood to carry oxygen and drugs to slow or reverse the death of brain cells. I had no idea humanity achieved synthetic blood. This is from the study: >a haemoglobin-based, acellular, non-coagulative, echogenic, and cytoprotective perfusate that promotes recovery from anoxia Am I the only one excited by what viable synthetic blood might mean for…

I reckon artificial blood is a lot easier in the absence of an immune system.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#30

I don’t see why they bothered drugging the brains. Even if they became conscious, the pig’s bodies are dead and gone. There is nothing to feel, one is simply alone with their thoughts, perhaps even dreams.

Perhaps the fact the the brain was disconnected from the body was a major factor in why no signs of consciousness were recorded. Consciousness may be the byproduct of a living body sending signals to a living brain.
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