Earlier quoted context omitted.
The book "the tree of possibilities" wrote by Bernard Werber, contains twenty "philosophy-fiction" stories. One of them is about a scientist who want to "free" its brain from its body, so he put his brain in a jar, and just...think. I think it kind of relate to your comment. It's a good reading (an other story is the left hand of one guy taking control and starting to act as a human).
That sounds amazing. Did you read it in English? I can only find it in French and Korean.
I've read it in French, looks like it have never been translated in English. They are quite short novels, so maybe automatic traduction can work.