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What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

alok.github.io

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Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#31

Post by est31 »

codingdave wrote: post #9
jstanley wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way is the OP's interest in dissecting cadavers not "legitimate"?

They don't seem to be doing this to pursue anything other than personal curiosity. And fairly light-hearted curiosity at that -- the tone of the article, to me, sounds more like, "Ooh, nerves are neat!" than someone trying to build a body of knowledge for a larger purpose. I'm not going to go so far to say that only med students should have access to cadavers... but this article does feel like a rando just cutting so…

The person being cut up is not hurt, they gave their consent to be cut up. So why should third parties intervene? Of course if there is a shortage of dead bodies, medical students should be prioritized, but why not also open it to everyone. In fact, it is better IMO to have this regulated by universities as those will help with maximizing the learning, and ensure it happens in a respecting environment.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#32

Post by ohwellhere »

codingdave wrote: post #9
jstanley wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way is the OP's interest in dissecting cadavers not "legitimate"?

They don't seem to be doing this to pursue anything other than personal curiosity. And fairly light-hearted curiosity at that -- the tone of the article, to me, sounds more like, "Ooh, nerves are neat!" than someone trying to build a body of knowledge for a larger purpose. I'm not going to go so far to say that only med students should have access to cadavers... but this article does feel like a rando just cutting so…

It's funny how differently people can read things, and how different contexts color our impressions.

On most topics, this community mostly values pursuing personal curiosity even if it's not for a larger purpose. We never know where we will find larger purposes, after all! And following interest and desire is generally a valued habit.

I didn't get the impression they were a rando "cutting someone up for fun" (note "someone"). I did get the impression they were a rando who wanted to know more about the human body, with a particular interest in the nervous system likely from a career in AI/ML. Note how the author has a better appreciation for the effects of disease, for the effects of exercise, and how they had intuitional leaps around brain structure and its applicability to ML as well as nascent intuition around the importance of social systems to evolution.

Personally I'm really glad that these opportunities exist. Most bodies become ash or sit rotting unnaturally slowly. This is a better use, even for lay people with idle curiosity.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#33

Post by petercooper »

If this sort of thing interests you and you're in the UK, there's a show in the next couple of weeks called My Dead Body where a woman narrates her own dissection (through recordings and ML-based voice recreation): https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-announces-movi... .. apparently the woman was the first (identifiable) person in the UK to donate their body for "public display".

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#34

Post by est31 »

> If you exercise, we’ll know. Their insides just look different.

I've seen some video footage of minimally invasive operations (during a dies academicus lecture) and OMG fat was just so ugly. I know it is a natural part of us but when I saw that footage I promised myself to do more sports.

Or IDK what they were referring to.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#36

Post by zmxz »

This sort of topic does not interest me, but I clicked, and to my surprise I gulped the article. This is one of the most interesting posts I've read on HN, ever. Awesome writeup, I love the POV of a non-expert in the field!

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#37

Post by falcor84 »

On a related note, I would like to strongly recommend Jacob Geller's YouTube essay "What's the Point of Taking Apart a Body" [0]. It uses video games for the main examples, but goes quite deep in multiple directions in search of deeper meaning. I found it to be very poignant.

[0] https://youtu.be/ohco3PB6eBw

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#38

Post by sergiotapia »

I've been in medical schools where there were corpses and students all over the large hall. My first thought was wow each of these people had dreams, personalities and a soul. They were somebody. It gave me some comfort that the students were taught to respect the bodies and treat them with dignity. I wonder if that's all medical school or only this one because it was catholic.

It seems OP doesn't care about this?

Anyway, that's when I realized I could never be in that profession. I would have to become cold to it and I probably couldn't.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#40

Post by kendallpark »

danielheath wrote: post #3
zac_hudson wrote: post #2

Firstly, its surprising that this school allows what would apparently be the lay public gain access to human anatomical gifts. In Canada, this is restricted to persons with a legitimate interest, ie med students and grad students in bioengineering/bio-adjacent fields. I think that the author is not an individual with such an interest was quite clear from the tone taken on this piece - most discussions involving cadav…

> most discussions involving cadavers are quite respectful of the fact that they are working on the mortal remains of a person Not that I know first-hand, but that's not the impression I got from the med students when I was at uni. People find all sorts of odd ways to cope with their own mortality, and getting reminded of it tends to bring those to the fore.

Speaking from first-hand, I can't remember any disrespectful behavior. Acting disrespectful toward the donor (what we called the cadavers) would get you kicked out of anatomy lab. There is even a "gift of body" ceremony commemorating the donations every year that family members can attend. Med students will speak about how the donors impacted their medical education and how much they appreciate them.

I would hope that tales of inappropriate jokes of posing with body parts are relegated to a bygone era.

Fwiw I would have no issue donating my body to my institution for dissection. I certainly benefited from the donation. Some notable memories:

- The brittleness and crunchiness of an atherosclerotic artery compared to the pliable rubber hose of a healthy artery

- How incredibly soft lungs are -- like a tempur-pedic pillow. Unless the donor had been a smoker. Then the lungs were hard and black-spotted like a pumice stone.

- The muscular atrophy of old age. There were some donors whose abdominal muscles were as thin as paper.

- Holding a donors brain in one's hand (it's smaller than one would expect). In the words of a lab partner, "I can't believe we are holding everything that made this person a person, all their personality, everything."

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