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‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

theguardian.com

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Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#31

Post by sevensor »

sandworm101 wrote: post #5
dtagames wrote: post #3

Like so many scientific pursuits, this one has its roots in science fiction. A terrific trashy futuristic novel from the 70's by Lawrence Sanders called The Tomorrow File [0] features preserved heads that are kept around to spout ideas in the future, when they might become useful, among many other Brave New World -type concepts. [0] https://archive.org/details/tomorrowfile0000sand_t5i1

If we are talking about preserving heads, Futurama is the final word on the subject.

Personally I think the head of Vecna https://www.rpglibrary.org/articles/storytelling/headofvecna... is the ultimate head transplant story.

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#32

Post by marcodiego »

JohnFen wrote: post #2

I think that immortality would be a disaster, personally. That we die is a critically important aspect of life. I'd prefer that we work on ways to make the death process less traumatic.

What if death is just a 'feature' of how life evolved in this planet? What if we discover life in other planets that are just endless? It just seems too anthropocentric to think that all forms of life must die.

Ok, that maybe part of how 'WE' define life, but, for me, that looks a lot like an arbitrary definition.

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#33

Post by deadbabe »

I think it’s more likely we can preserve our ego rather than our consciousness. For instance, create an AI replica of yourself that accurately behaves the same way you do. Although you would be dead, your ego can carry on living and responding to changes in the external world, and people could have interactions with you that accurately simulate how you would respond to them long after you’re gone. And as your ego learns about the world, it develops opinions closely similar to opinions you would have based on your life experience. Perhaps in this way people in power could remain in power indefinitely.

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#34

Post by everdrive »

latexr wrote: post #20
NickM wrote: post #11

I used to buy into this kind of stuff, but I've become more and more skeptical of the idea that you would still be yourself if your brain could be preserved/emulated/transplanted/whatever. Our nervous system extends into our bodies. We feel emotions in our bodies. People with certain kinds of brain damage that prevents them from feeling emotions normally also experience trouble making rational decisions. More recent…

For example, it’s widely reported that organ transplantation, especially heart transplants, may cause personality changes associated with the donor. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-3943/5/1/2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31739081/

Do we think the personality changes are due to the heart itself, or just due the minor brain damage accompanying an incredibly invasive surgery?

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#35

Post by bookofjoe »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #8
JohnFen wrote: post #2

I think that immortality would be a disaster, personally. That we die is a critically important aspect of life. I'd prefer that we work on ways to make the death process less traumatic.

Nothing stopping you from dying. You make your personal decisions and let others make theirs.

Yes. I have long believed that all those who applaud death as a good thing — Steve Jobs most memorably in his address at Stanford — will be first in line for life extension once it becomes an option.

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#36

Post by lm28469 »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #8
JohnFen wrote: post #2

I think that immortality would be a disaster, personally. That we die is a critically important aspect of life. I'd prefer that we work on ways to make the death process less traumatic.

Nothing stopping you from dying. You make your personal decisions and let others make theirs.

Don't worry you'll die just as they will

It doesn't matter how much you like sci fi, even if it was technically possible it would be reserved to the 0.001% and you'd still be grinding your whole life just as you are doing now

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#38

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

ericmcer wrote: post #10
JohnFen wrote: post #2

I think that immortality would be a disaster, personally. That we die is a critically important aspect of life. I'd prefer that we work on ways to make the death process less traumatic.

Why? We have already decimated any semblance of natural selection so death is no longer a necessity from an evolutionary standpoint. Maybe immortal humans would be more beneficent because they wouldn't be scrambling to get ahead in their short time here. If I didn't only have 30-40ish productive years to achieve whatever I will in this life it would be much easier to donate money or time to charitable pursuits.

I like knowing that the worlds biggest assholes sometimes lie awake at night fearfully pondering their own death. I don't want to deprive them of that.

Re: ‘With brain preservation, nobody has to die’

#39

Post by everdrive »

Setting aside the actual physical and technological limitations here, I think such immortality would create a whole new kind of population problem. Population growth, in some sense, would explode. Or, more realistically, you’d have two classes of people: those living, and those “immortal,” those who could afford immortality, and those who were poor and would have to die permanently.

That said, I think this is all a pipe dream and totally infeasible.

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