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A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

newscientist.com

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Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#21

Post by colechristensen »

jlarocco wrote: post #17
ozlikethewizard wrote: post #3

Would people want this? Imagine waking up to a world where 200 years has passed, everyone you knew is dead, everything you knew is history.

Yeah, count me out. I don't even like how the world's played out in the 40 years I've been here. Imagine waking up in 200 years and finding out 90% of the world is still poor, we can't feed everybody, the rich still get to do whatever they want, we're still warring for no good reason, etc.

So... same as the whole of human history? You're upset that your generation isn't going to fix all of the problems of civilization that have existed forever?

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#22

Post by 7oi »

ozlikethewizard wrote: post #3

Would people want this? Imagine waking up to a world where 200 years has passed, everyone you knew is dead, everything you knew is history.

Or imagine waking up in a world where “ownership” of your mind has exchanged hands as the company who started this has gone through “structural changes” etc and you’ll basically be commandeered to be the brain of someones coffee machine or something for an eternity.

Or, as in the Bobiverse books, the brain of a space probe, but I have a bleaker view of the future than that…

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#23

Post by simonask »

thesmtsolver2 wrote: post #7
ozlikethewizard wrote: post #3

Would people want this? Imagine waking up to a world where 200 years has passed, everyone you knew is dead, everything you knew is history.

Why do you assume that everyone you know will be dead? Won't some of them also be preserved. As for "everything you knew is history", who wouldn't want to witness and be a part of a new world?

I can recommend the comic “Transmetropolitan” by Warren Ellis, which deals with this and many other questions.

You have to imagine what it would be like for someone who lived in 1826 too wake up today, in a world where nothing they know is relevant, they have no connections, no idea what to do with any of it. Historians might want to interview you, or the first couple of people like you, but then what?

You will be an audience member to a show you don’t understand, until you die.

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#24

Post by birdsongs »

DennisP wrote: post #14

More of a digital copy scenario. The article says the process involves toxic chemicals that lock everything in place so the connectome can be examined. There's no known way to reverse the chemical process in the biological brain. https://archive.is/SMcX5

Not that I think this is anywhere close in actuality, but It's reminding me of MMAcevedo. (https://qntm.org/mmacevedo)

What server will I wake up on? Who is running the infrastructure? What will be asked of me to be allowed to continue to exist on that server? Given our current societal trends, I can't imagine I would enjoy any existence where a copy of me is spun back up.

And of course, my original thread of consciousness will still be ended, so this is some alternate copy of me. (Based on my view of the teletransportation paradox.)

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#25

Post by cjbgkagh »

DennisP wrote: post #14

More of a digital copy scenario. The article says the process involves toxic chemicals that lock everything in place so the connectome can be examined. There's no known way to reverse the chemical process in the biological brain. https://archive.is/SMcX5

While the connections are important I think the individual cell behavior is also very important and that is driven by DNA. Brain cells last a lifetime and can modify their own DNA so each one ends up being unique. I do wonder how much of behavior/consciousness is encoded in the cells DNA versus the connections between the cells.

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#26

Post by Procrastes »

Here's a thought experiment. I offer you the chance to be put in a medically induced coma and shipped around the world to strangers you know nothing about. You don't know what economic, political, or moral system you'll awaken to. The only thing you know for sure is they, for some reason we're interested in receiving an unconscious person, no questions asked.

Do you take the deal? Do you sign your family up for it?

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#27

Post by chasil »

7oi wrote: post #13

One step closer to the Bobiverse.

I'm just finishing the last one published.

It would be interesting to wake up as a Von Neumann probe.

Still, did these people completely solve the ice crystalization problem?

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/d...

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#28

Post by dexwiz »

ozlikethewizard wrote: post #3

Would people want this? Imagine waking up to a world where 200 years has passed, everyone you knew is dead, everything you knew is history.

This assumes you wake up and are given liberties. There are much worse fates. Waking up and owing your life to the company forever is pretty awful.

Worse even is never truly waking up but instead being replicated and turned into the brain for a servitor. If you believe the Roko Worshippers, you might be woken up just to be tortured.

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#29

Post by windowliker »

ozlikethewizard wrote: post #3

Would people want this? Imagine waking up to a world where 200 years has passed, everyone you knew is dead, everything you knew is history.

Even worse, imagine waking up in a world where 200 years have gone by and nothing has changed, everyone is still here that you knew in your 'first' life. All the self-serving bosses, all the mendacious politicians, all the mediocre entertainers. Like a groundhog day from hell, forever.

Re: A pig's brain has been frozen with its cellular activity locked in place

#30

Post by kingkawn »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #25
DennisP wrote: post #14

More of a digital copy scenario. The article says the process involves toxic chemicals that lock everything in place so the connectome can be examined. There's no known way to reverse the chemical process in the biological brain. https://archive.is/SMcX5

While the connections are important I think the individual cell behavior is also very important and that is driven by DNA. Brain cells last a lifetime and can modify their own DNA so each one ends up being unique. I do wonder how much of behavior/consciousness is encoded in the cells DNA versus the connections between the cells.

The depth of complexity and innumerable interacting variables of biology make attempts to map brain function always seem like an absurdity
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