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From: vexen |
Date: September 6th, 2008 11:52 am (UTC) |
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Re: think about life and soul
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I think you are 90% correct, but there are some important complications.
(1) Firstly, and realistically, our bodies contain glands that produce many hormones and psychoactive chemicals: these can effect our personality and moods. Blood-sugar levels are tied to our organs; and their levels effect cognition. All this means that if you gave someone a perfect head-transplant, you would probably still end up with some background changes to character.
(2) Secondly, more theoretically, is the biofeedback system in general. Our brains are systems of circular neuropathways, all relying on feedback from the body. If our whole neck-down nervous system changes, it may well mean that all the stimulating feedback from our bodies stimulates the brain in a different way than with the person's original body. This might mean that they never think in the same way, again. Their habits, tastes and behaviour might all change due to the changed biofeedback from their bodies.
So...
Head transplants are definately worth continued investigation, and their benefits are exciting, perhaps sustaining healthy life by 50% (assuming a person's good mental health). But it's not quite so clear-cut that they won't result in all-round changes. This is kind of common-sense-expected, as, our bodies are heavily holistic, with changes to one part effecting another in varied direct and indirect ways. (An example: de-fleeing a monkey can drastically improve its personality, etc).
I think head-transplants are a long way off (we need to sort out tissue compatabilities, immume system responses, etc, which are hard enough with organ transplants).
Good luck to us!
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