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Originally posted by Loki
[B]Great topic, and i'd like to raise a point. Unfortunately, its been a few years since ive done the research, so i cant remember the name of the guy. Ill add it in if i can find it, but if someone else knows the name, by all means throw it in.
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The funny thing is, of the 100 gates allocated, only 39 gates were used by the final circuit (incidentally, nobody understands how the hell the final circuit works, but it does). But, (and heres why this is relevant), if even one unused gate was taken away, the whole circuit collapsed, and did not work. [b]
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Not strictly true...The majority of the unconnected gates were in fact unused. It was just a small loop of gates, that were unconnected to the main circuit which could not be removed, but regardless...
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The theory behind this is that the circuit evolved to work with what was given to it.
If you replace that neuron, regardless of what you do, it will not be identical to a human neuron, and as such, there is a possibility that the entire system will come to a screeching halt. So, id say yes, there is a possibility that every single brain cell is required in order for you to be you.
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I believe that you may have missed the point. If you replace the loop of gates in that circuit with an entirely equivalent set of gates, you will find that your overall circuit functions correctly. Removing it entirely will cause the circuit to stop functioning.
When it comes to replacing it, the thing is that, the actual implementation of the circuit is irrelevant, as long as it does the same thing.
However, an important thing to bear in mind is, what characteristics of the implementation are required.
At present the operation of the discriminator is not understood, so it would not be possible to replace the gate loop with an equivalent circuit using a different implementation.
You could design a semiconductor chip, which was
logically equivalent. and use that in the discriminator, but the device would cease to work.
Only with an understanding of the operation of the circuit as a whole can we hope to replace a part of it with something equivalent.
e.g. it has been postulated that the main circuit induces an electromagnetic force in the gate loop, which has an effect on the device at large. If we were to replace the gate loop, we would need something which could take advantage of the slight electromagnetic field generated by the rest of the circuit.
None of this takes away from my theory. I firmly put forward the conditions that must be met, before we can hope to build a replacement neuron, namely a full understanding of physics, and a full understanding of the brain.
The corresponding conditions also apply to the tone discriminator.
Further more, you make the claim that every neuron in your brain is required for your sense of self.
This could not be true. Brain cells die all the time, without any adverse effects to your self. While most of the cells die a natural death, as part of the general operation of the brain, sometimes cells die independently of the brains operation, again without causing problems to your sense of self.
So, if a cell can be removed/destroyed, without "killing" you, surely something much less drastic (replacement) would do no such thing.
Further more, how could an entirely equivalent thing, have any effect what so ever?
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Heh, this thread reminds me of a rather unsettling thought i had a few weeks ago: How do you know that you were really you one minute ago? 
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According to this theory...you weren't!