Brain Transplant

alxian · #1 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005

your body is on the verge of failure

you are given the option of cloning your body.

they claim that once the full adult cloned body is ready they will transplant your brain

however as the day draws closer it becomes clear your brain is becoming less fit for a direct transplant.

they offer you can alternative.

"We can sew both brains together and then train your brain to function in both bodies at once," the medic says, "you'll train your mind to control the cloned body then we'll systematically shut down your old brain." "Hopefully your mind will have transferred completely without ill effect before your old brain and body sease functioning." adds his secondary.

you think to yourself, IF the mind transfer works, and IF whatevers killing me doesn't transfer from my old body into the clone while our bodies are linked.

to avoid this only the nerves are connected at first, then a stronger bridge of neural tissue grows between the six lobes and shared optic nerve.

they claim the technique keeps whatever spark of life their might be intact, since it will flow into the new mind and be sequestered there while the old brain and body are euthanized. starting with the limbs and then killing the larger nerves, finally nuking the brain.

i guess i'd like to know how long it would take for the blank template brain to be trained by the old one. the old one took decades to form and hopefully didn't suffer much decay before the procedure.. but if it knows how to make those connections and the brain chemistry and structure similar enough the old brain might simply expand into the cloned brain. once the transfer was complete the clone wouldn't be good for much, about as useful to the world as a four year old, but the template in its truest form of the old brain would take hold.

getting memories to transfer could be the most difficult part. reliving a life time within a few days of weeks might not be so easy. the clone once 'complete' would lack the memories of its former host.

perhaps if we had a way now to make hardcopies of our memories we could avoid that loss during body transferences?

UncleAl · #2 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005

A brain cannot be transplanted. Aside from time delay and blood plumbing considerations, there is no way to hook up the eyes and spinal cord. Zero sensory input and paralyzed; machine breathing and tubes everywhere. YOU volunteer. Screaming into vacuum for there rest of my life is not my idea of a good time.

A human body is severely tapped keeping one brain alive. Brains have huge exclusively aerobic metabolism and enormous heat production. Getting raw materials in and wastes out is a near thing. Herbavores can be run to death by carnivores on a hot day. Their brains literally melt (no cerebral rete mirabile). As for the science fiction aspects...

"Az di bobe vot gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde."
Do you have three grandfathers?

nkt · #3 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005

I agree. A body cannot be switched like that. I have no idea if the brain is a self-supporting structure. The mass on top of it night well kill the bits at the bottom if it isn't supported carefully. Getting it out would be dammed difficult too, without major trauma. The only way to do it would be to replace everything but the brain and face. Hopefully, at that stage, whatever is the problem will be "gone away" - say a cancer of the body, or an overload of lead or other heavy metals, or black lung - and you will recover fully.

A cut through the neck, a whole lot of support equipment and lots of careful alignment and glueing together, and it just might work. Removing the brain from the eyes, ears and other majorly important and complex things would be a nightmare, even if we reached the stage where spinal cords could be readily connected back together.

Of course, parts of the eyes and ears could also be switched over, to ensure they continued to work fine alongside the new body.

Buckyball · #4 (**permalink**) 08-06-2005

I do not think that this is quite what you are looking for, but I found ithis.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1263758.stm
They transplanted the head of one monkey to another monkey's body, but It died after. They argument for it was shot down, but what the scientists succeeded in doing was keeping a foreign brain alive with a new set of heart/kidney/liver ect.

OpenMind5 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-06-2005

WOW! thats interesting. A INTIRE HEAD TRANSPLANT. My god...if it happens and we do start cloning....we serious could live fore every. Unless u get a brain tumor...then your screwed.

Op5

Buffy · #6 (**permalink**) 08-06-2005

Well as Dr. McCoy said, "A child could do it!" But then he forgot how....

I think the question here though is backwards. It should be: when your brain gets old and thinks wrong thoughts while your body is still in good shape, you ought to be able to go get a new one so you could get a new outlook on life....

Spotlessly-minded,
Buffy