Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 207 posts

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#81

Post by phoboslab »

saulrh wrote: post #64
nabla9 wrote: 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

It'd actually be fantastic. If I've donated my brain to anything like the modern research apparatus, I can be relatively sure of one of two possibilities: Either my brain was chosen as a test, in which case the project is on the news literally worldwide and the ethics have had the crap argued out of them and I can be sure that any limitations of the environment are due to technological shortcomings and I get to parti…

The 2015 game SOMA[1] paints a far darker picture of precisely this topic: a brain donated to research. It really explores this in depth. If you're remotely interested in games I can only recommend it.

[1] https://www.somagame.com/

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#82

Post by human20190310 »

saulrh wrote: post #76
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #13

Throwing it out there—when I'm dead, you are totally allowed to resuscitate my brain. Better than being dead. Please make sure I am supplied with some good books to read, if at all possible.

Strongly agreed. The "what if they wake me up to torture me" scenarios seem like wild catastrophizing to me - if someone has the political power and resources to develop special brain-torture gear, rez me, and keep me alive so they can torture me, they have the political power and resources to kidnap me and torture me with knives and fire as long as they want. It'd probably even be easier for them to do it to my phys…

Given enough time, anything with a non-zero probability of happening will eventually happen, and when you're dealing with the prospect of immortality, "enough time" is a given.

Even if the optimistic scenario is true for your first 100 "rezzes", the 101st civilization that takes over after the 100th collapses might not be so nice.

EDITED TO ADD: Moreover "the kinds of irrationalities that lead a civilization to do that kind of thing" is confusing a value judgment with rationality. An extremely predatory civilization might maintain its edge through cruelty, the same way that cats seem to play with mice before killing them. That would be evil, but rational.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#83

Post by kraftman »

sfkdjf9j3j wrote: post #79
fmihaila wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It'd actually be fantastic [...] Either my brain was chosen as a test, [...] or I'm part of a follow-up trial or large-scale roll-out Or your enemies took power, and when they were going through the vats for payback they picked yours (along with many others). If you think you have no enemies, or that you know them all personally, you are better than me.

Is it really that weird to not have "enemies"? There I people I wouldn't hang out with or wouldn't work with again, but I don't think I'd consider them enemies.

I think it's more weird to have enemies.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#84

Post by bradjohnson »

sfkdjf9j3j wrote: post #79
fmihaila wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It'd actually be fantastic [...] Either my brain was chosen as a test, [...] or I'm part of a follow-up trial or large-scale roll-out Or your enemies took power, and when they were going through the vats for payback they picked yours (along with many others). If you think you have no enemies, or that you know them all personally, you are better than me.

Is it really that weird to not have "enemies"? There I people I wouldn't hang out with or wouldn't work with again, but I don't think I'd consider them enemies.

It's very weird to think that people would even care enough about a dead person to single out your brain for "payback". Even weirder to think that these people would somehow be in power.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#85

Post by Wowfunhappy »

human20190310 wrote: post #82
saulrh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly agreed. The "what if they wake me up to torture me" scenarios seem like wild catastrophizing to me - if someone has the political power and resources to develop special brain-torture gear, rez me, and keep me alive so they can torture me, they have the political power and resources to kidnap me and torture me with knives and fire as long as they want. It'd probably even be easier for them to do it to my phys…

Given enough time, anything with a non-zero probability of happening will eventually happen, and when you're dealing with the prospect of immortality, "enough time" is a given. Even if the optimistic scenario is true for your first 100 "rezzes", the 101st civilization that takes over after the 100th collapses might not be so nice. EDITED TO ADD: Moreover "the kinds of irrationalities that lead a civilization to do th…

So does that one bad experience cancel out all the good ones?

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#86

Post by InitialLastName »

kraftman wrote: post #83
sfkdjf9j3j wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really that weird to not have "enemies"? There I people I wouldn't hang out with or wouldn't work with again, but I don't think I'd consider them enemies.

I think it's more weird to have enemies.

It takes a very specific type of person to believe that they, specifically, have enemies.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#87

Post by amatecha »

nabla9 wrote: 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

Yeah this sounds terrifying!!

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#88

Post by bdamm »

meowface wrote: post #62
barbecue_sauce wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wrap my head around what it would be like to exist merely as a consciousness within my brain, lacking any sensory organs to perceive the surrounding world. Of course, I've also never been in a sensory deprivation tank.

My naive guess is that, although very jarring at first, most people would actually get used to it in not too long of a time. Humans adapt easily. Also, if they can achieve that feat, they could probably also trick the brain into feeling like it has robotic or virtual body parts. Maybe people with locked-in syndrome could provide some reports of what it's like. It's not the exact same, but it may be similar.

> most people would actually get used to it

All evidence we have regarding long stays in solitary confinement or sensory deprivation indicates everyone trends towards psychosis.

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#89

Post by greendesk »

acheron wrote: post #27
nabla9 wrote: 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…

I would suggest a different action for this specimen. Previously, specimens were terminated. Valuable information is lost.

If specimen 46, Vat 7 experiences a romantic relationship, our corporation will gain valuable research on emotional development past nihilism stage. Suitable partners are: Specimen 114, Vat 7 Specimen 126, Vat 7 Specimen 67, Vat 89 (pending switch)

Re: Pig brains partially revived four hours after death

#90

Post by human20190310 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #85
human20190310 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given enough time, anything with a non-zero probability of happening will eventually happen, and when you're dealing with the prospect of immortality, "enough time" is a given. Even if the optimistic scenario is true for your first 100 "rezzes", the 101st civilization that takes over after the 100th collapses might not be so nice. EDITED TO ADD: Moreover "the kinds of irrationalities that lead a civilization to do th…

So does that one bad experience cancel out all the good ones?

I don't know. I'm just disturbed by the power imbalance between the people doing the reviving and the beings that are revived.

I hope the optimistic scenarios are true.

Post reply on HN