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Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

nautil.us

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Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#31

Post by gfo »

DailyHN wrote: post #23
RossBencina wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And DNA, in the case of bone marrow transplant: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/dna-bone-marrow-transp...

What about encoding long term memories in DNA?

Sounds like you've been playing Assassin's Creed!

Maybe not quite a 'long-term' memory in the context you're after, but I wonder how this would compare to something like instinct and how we would tell the difference?

Somewhat related to this is Microsoft Research's project to use DNA for data storage: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/dna-storage...

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#32

Post by tiku »

tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #3

Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…

I thought of the cells working as a raid system, Perhaps the flow of energy also stores and retrieves data to "refresh" the brain cells..

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#33

Post by jojo2000 »

tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #3

Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…

The old vision (brain = neurons => memories, rest of the body = organs which execute single or multiple functions, synchronized by the brain) is slowly fading away.

We have a lot of active neurons in the digestive system, which is in fact a second brain.

Same can be said for the heart which contains an autonomous neuronal system to control the cardiac function independently if need be.

Notions of distributed systems apply : redundancy, parallelism, coordinated autonomous systems, synchronization.

So why wouldn't memory storage be distributed too ?

Why wouldn't some memories stored in organs be retained after transplantation ?

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#34

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

wildduck wrote: post #5
r_singh wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... any chance you have a link of that lecture or a story on it?

There are many cases of people who get organ transplant inherit the memory of the donor. I have heard in more than one places or another. A simple search on the web will yield this: Here is a link: https://www.medicaldaily.com/can-organ-transplant-change-rec... We still don't know squats about how memory are stored. And cases like that can be a valid argument for memory and consciousness being a non-local phenomenon.…

Get back to me when someone gets an arm amputated and forgets math.

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#35

Post by nkrisc »

tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #3

Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…

Coincidence sure seems like the simplest explanation. I'm sure the donor liked a great many things other than KFC, and I'm sure enjoyment of KFC is pretty common in the general population, who make up donors. Now if it was something extremely specific or rare, I'd pay a little more attention to it.

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#36

Post by BuildTheRobots »

I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I was taught this isn't actually the case at all.

After a quick bit of googling, it seems that earthworms can re-grow their tail (if cut far enough down), but the other end doesn't re-grow. Flat-Worms, however are capable of entirely re-growing heads and tails from tiny pieces.

https://www.livescience.com/38405-how-flatworms-regrow-their...

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#37

Post by keanebean86 »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #36

I remember hearing as a kid that worms cut in half would regenerate into two worms however as an adult I'm sure I was taught this isn't actually the case at all. After a quick bit of googling, it seems that earthworms can re-grow their tail (if cut far enough down), but the other end doesn't re-grow. Flat-Worms, however are capable of entirely re-growing heads and tails from tiny pieces. https://www.livescience.com/3…

Some human children have regrown finger tips: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/10/1903854...

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#38

Post by pvaldes »

jojo2000 wrote: post #33
tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #3

Small aside about memory in humans: I am reminded of a story told during a lecture of a transplant recipient receiving a heart transplant and was interviewed after the successful surgery about what they would like to eat now that they had a new heart (previously, was on a really restricted diet due to heart condition). The person responded with "Kentucky fried chicken" on a whim. It was later explained that they don'…

The old vision (brain = neurons => memories, rest of the body = organs which execute single or multiple functions, synchronized by the brain) is slowly fading away. We have a lot of active neurons in the digestive system, which is in fact a second brain. Same can be said for the heart which contains an autonomous neuronal system to control the cardiac function independently if need be. Notions of distributed systems…

The idea has some merit, but lots and lot of trasplants are done each year since decades. Nobody has exit the hospital suddenly turning on a pianist or an expert plumber after a hand transplant. And nobody suddenly forgot the knowledge to do some specialized thing, or recognize a beloved one, after losing an arm or a leg.

The kentucky fried thing (assuming that is a true history and not a fake new) could have a few simpler explanations like doctors talking about the donor in the pre or postoperatory phase while the patient was half-awake

Re: Memories Can Be Injected and Survive Amputation and Metamorphosis

#40

Post by zappo2938 »

alpaca128 wrote: post #26
zappo2938 wrote: post #7

If we are empathetic, capable of being aware of other people's feelings, it is reasonable that the memories attached to awareness exist not isolated in the individual but across people.

You should look up mirror neurons. Aside from those we definitely do not know other people's feelings, though. I think that's obvious from the amount of conflict coming from this exact reason.

Being empathetic doesn't imply also being compassionate. Maybe we vie for power so much exactly because we do have a deep awareness of other people's feelings and people who wield power can say, "If I'm not happy, nobody is happy." All this conflict comes from not having to depend on people in power for our happiness.
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