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If you have a brain transplant...

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auntblabby
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05 Jun 2010, 5:57 am

i have heard it discussed, that our essense is non-localized. there have been cases where folk who got organ transplants suddenly found they had new interests or repulsions, ones that they never had before. some call it cellular memory. an interesting link below-
do click me, por favor



Robdemanc
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06 Jun 2010, 9:38 am

auntblabby wrote:
i have heard it discussed, that our essense is non-localized. there have been cases where folk who got organ transplants suddenly found they had new interests or repulsions, ones that they never had before. some call it cellular memory. an interesting link below-
do click me, por favor


That was very interesting. I have often wondered if memories are somehow stored in our genes. But I only thought about it in terms of inheriting memories from your ancestors. It could be from a parent or grandparent. Or it could be from thousands of years ago. Or even memories from early forms of life etc.

Some experiments have been done that imply memories from one generation get built into future generations.



ruveyn
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06 Jun 2010, 10:21 am

auntblabby wrote:
i have heard it discussed, that our essense is non-localized. there have been cases where folk who got organ transplants suddenly found they had new interests or repulsions, ones that they never had before. some call it cellular memory. an interesting link below-
do click me, por favor


We don't have essence. We have the physical existence of our bodies.

ruveyn



Asmodeus
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06 Jun 2010, 12:08 pm

auntblabby wrote:
i have heard it discussed, that our essense is non-localized. there have been cases where folk who got organ transplants suddenly found they had new interests or repulsions, ones that they never had before. some call it cellular memory. an interesting link below-
do click me, por favor


Source: Mail on Sunday; London (UK) - The same paper that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-uOlaTOUZA
Interviewee: Gary Schwartz, professor of psychology at the University of Arizona best known for controversial experiments with mediums.



Jono
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06 Jun 2010, 12:21 pm

just_ben wrote:
Well that's kind of what I'm asking, Sand. How do you stay 'you' when all your memories and your personality etc. are in a brain you no longer have?
Would you care to expand ruveyn or leave a classic one line cryptic answer?


Another way to think about it is your identity gets transplanted with your brain into whatever body your brain get transplanted into. It's not brain transplant but more like a whole body transplant. It would would be you in a different body.



PunkyKat
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06 Jun 2010, 3:43 pm

Flair wrote:
Video of first brain transplant

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8On7rktFZME[/youtube]


That man should have been shot a long time ago.


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Exclavius
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06 Jun 2010, 9:18 pm

Wouldn't a successful application of this in humans prove the non-existence of a soul?

Go science go!



conan
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07 Jun 2010, 12:24 am

auntblabby wrote:
i have heard it discussed, that our essense is non-localized. there have been cases where folk who got organ transplants suddenly found they had new interests or repulsions, ones that they never had before. some call it cellular memory. an interesting link below-
do click me, por favor

i would have thought this in general would be to do with slightly different functioning and chemicals. eg. your liver. different people can handle different sorts of daily 'stress' and your liver is a large part of that so i think if you change your liver you woul likely learn aversion and attraction to new things. this is my guess anyway

Robdemanc wrote:
That was very interesting. I have often wondered if memories are somehow stored in our genes. [

This seems very unlikely. quite a lot is know about the mechanisms that control DNA and as far as i'm aware, being able to write DNA in sucha a detailed way is not something that exists. sure it is technically feasible but i don't think that is the path that life has taken.
Some experiments have been done that imply memories from one generation get built into future generations.



Robdemanc
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07 Jun 2010, 5:25 am

Robdemanc wrote:
That was very interesting. I have often wondered if memories are somehow stored in our genes. [

This seems very unlikely. quite a lot is know about the mechanisms that control DNA and as far as i'm aware, being able to write DNA in sucha a detailed way is not something that exists. sure it is technically feasible but i don't think that is the path that life has taken.
Some experiments have been done that imply memories from one generation get built into future generations.[/quote]

But there must be a mechanism to turn behaviour or habit into instinct. How does that take place? The memory of an action must become so strong that it gets somehow written into our genes for future generations.