Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
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Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#2"alive" is not a meaningful term. It makes sense only when you have blunt instruments to measure aliveness, like pulse, respiration, heart beat, etc.
Once you go much more granular, there's no particular spot to make a distinction between "alive" and "not alive", until you stop seeing any electrical, biochemical and mechanical activity of any kind, at which point you're basically saying "inert".
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#3"alive" is not a meaningful term. It makes sense only when you have blunt instruments to measure aliveness, like pulse, respiration, heart beat, etc. Once you go much more granular, there's no particular spot to make a distinction between "alive" and "not alive", until you stop seeing any electrical, biochemical and mechanical activity of any kind, at which point you're basically saying "inert".
And yet, "my child is alive" versus "my child is dead" have some… meaning.
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#4I just finished reading "That Hideous Strength" (CS Lewis) this weekend where they have a disembodied head kept "alive", and some convicts in the pipeline whose heads/brains, it is implied, will be experimented on similarly. Lewis was remarkably prophetic.
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#5“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: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#6Live dissection and experimentation on “alive but drugged” human brains is mental. How do you ensure that you aren’t torturing a brain that can’t see, hear or scream? How are you held accountable?
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#7I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#8"alive" is not a meaningful term. It makes sense only when you have blunt instruments to measure aliveness, like pulse, respiration, heart beat, etc. Once you go much more granular, there's no particular spot to make a distinction between "alive" and "not alive", until you stop seeing any electrical, biochemical and mechanical activity of any kind, at which point you're basically saying "inert".
With what we are learning about how gut flora, can a brain be considered conscious while detached from the digestive system?
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#9Just no.
Re: Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing
#10[dead]