171–180 of 207 posts
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
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…
This game was a treasure trove of thought-provoking quotations, many of which can be found on WikiQuote. [1]
[1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri
Earlier quoted context omitted.
After living a full life? Probably?
I don't think you're appreciating what it would be like. Sure, at first, the peacefulness of absolute sensory deprivation would probably feel pretty relaxing. But then, it never ends. An eternity (or as long as your brain was kept alive) of nothing. You see nothing. You hear nothing. You feel, taste, and smell nothing. If you're lucky, you'd start building a fake reality to imagine yourself in, like a dream. Over tim…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
“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…
That's the justification I give when my boss says my code is shit.
Code monkey not say this out loud
Code monkey not crazy, just proud
>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…
Don't get your hopes up. I worked in a neurology lab where they used something similar years ago. You could keep a pig / rat brain running for a few hours like this, but it would start to fall apart in other ways pretty fast.
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Option 3: the experience of being disconnected from your body is so distressing that you can do nothing but attempt (and fail) to scream. The scientists have no idea you are in distress. This goes on for months or years. By the time technology develops to a point where they can communicate with you, you are irreparably broken.
In all cases i would not lose anything, because i would have already lost everything when dying. So in all cases it's a bonus time, and though being properly resurrected would be great, helping scientific progress and dying is still better than simply dying.
It's sort of like being given a choice at the time of death. Would you rather everything ended now, or do you want to opt for a small chance at future life if there's also a chance that life consists entirely of torture of one type or another.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
After living a full life? Probably?
I don't think you're appreciating what it would be like. Sure, at first, the peacefulness of absolute sensory deprivation would probably feel pretty relaxing. But then, it never ends. An eternity (or as long as your brain was kept alive) of nothing. You see nothing. You hear nothing. You feel, taste, and smell nothing. If you're lucky, you'd start building a fake reality to imagine yourself in, like a dream. Over tim…
1: https://www.quora.com/What-was-it-like-for-you-to-awaken-aft...
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.
Without these signals, we have no clue whether you’ll be in immense confusion, anxiety, sadness or bliss. It could very well be much worse than death,
Are you ok with that gamble?
Freezing your head might be good idea. If one day you could simulate a braina and scan a brain in sufficient detail just freezing might be enough to keep sufficient detail. Who you are must be in chemistry of your brain not in the electricity because you are same person after epileptic seizure as before.
This presumes that you are the same person after a seizure, or even after a nap, or even after half a minute of ordinary life, or even a unitary "person" to begin with.
You are same enough for practical purposes like holding relationships and retaining knowledge and skills.
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Couldn't they monitor brain activity for common pain modalities?
They currently ignore them. Not talking fantasy. When beating heart corpses (technically brain dead but body is alive) have their organs removed, in some cases the bodies go through symptoms of a live human being killed by vivisection. These are generally ignored. Let's hope our understanding of brain death is fully and completely correct.