On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 10:48 AM, Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mar 1, 5:41 pm, Stathis Papaioannou <stath...@gmail.com> wrote: >> On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 8:32 AM, Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > It depends how good the artificial brain stem was. The more of the >> > brain you try to replace, the more intolerant it will be, probably >> > exponentially so. Just as having four prosthetic limbs would be more >> > of a burden than just one, the more the ratio of living brain to >> > prosthetic brain tilts toward the prosthetic, the less person there is >> > left. It's not strictly linear, as neuroplasticity would allow the >> > person to scale down to what is left of the natural brain (as in cases >> > where people have an entire hemisphere removed), and even if the >> > prosthetics were good it is not clear that it would feel the same for >> > the person. If the person survived with an artificial brain stem, they >> > may never again feel that they were 'really' in their body again. If >> > the cortex were replaced, they may regress to infancy and never be >> > able to learn to use the new brain. >> >> It's not a completely adequate artificial brain stem or cortex if it >> doesn't work properly, is it? Just as an artificial heart that doesn't >> increase output appropriately in response to exercise is not >> completely adequate, though it might be adequate to prevent the person >> from dying immediately. > > That's what I'm saying. It may be the case though that no artificial > organ can be completely adequate in every sense - or even a > transplant. It's one thing when it's a kidney, but when it's a brain, > I don't think we can assume anything.
You do assume, though, that brain function can't be replicated by a machine. That has no firmer basis than a claim that kidney function cannot be replicated by a machine. After all, brains and kidneys are made out of the same stuff. You could bite the bullet and declare yourself a vitalist. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
