On 10 December 2014 at 20:00, Richard Ruquist <[email protected]> wrote:
> That's the slide I meant. The first item has to do with the (mostly ) > elderly who get serious dementia > and essentially cannot communicate. They speak nonsense or not at all. > > From autopsies after they die their brains are established to be almost > completely destroyed. > Yet just before they die, from minutes to a day or two, > their communication is normal or even sometimes above normal. > > This is taken as evidence that consciousness can exist without a brain. > In fact, during dementia it is thought that the decaying brain just gets > in the way. > > A more remarkable case is that of a HS honor student (130 IQ) who got a > brain injury in a auto accident. > The xray of her head revealed that she only has a brain stem- no higher > order components. > > Similarly some people with cranial fluid in place of a brain (except for > the brain stem) are high functioning. > Prof. Greyson showed an xray of such a person's head compared to an > ordinary brain. > > This all sounds rather extraordinary, and as they say "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" - I have found in the past that what looked like compelling evidence for something extraordinary has later been shown to be not quite as good as it appeared (I should never have read James Randi on the Cottingley fairies...) So, with all due respect, I would like to know if there are peer-reviewed papers by experts in the relevant fields, which also make these claims? The IQ 130 student, who is presumably still around to be studied, might be a good place to start. If she really is what is being claimed that would seem to be very strong evidence that high-functioning consciousness can exist in a much reduced brain, and maybe even without one. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
