qweds

Hey all,

I wrote a paper on this question and was just curious what actuall people think about this just as a possibility:

The Whole-Body Transplant. One’s entire brain is extracted and transplanted into the body of one’s identical twin, who has just suffered brain death and whose brain has been removed. One’s brain is appropriately connected to the nerves in ones twin’s body, so that after the operation a person is revived in one’s twin’s body who is fully psychologically continuous with oneself as one was before the operation.

The question is do "you" continue to exist. If you knew you had a fatal disease and were about to die but that your brain could be transplanted into the body of your "twin" would that preserve "you"?'


thoughts?

tim(mah)

joeshoe

Yeah, I would consider the "you" to be localized to your brain. If you were to lose your arms and legs and have them replaced by prosthetics, then most people would think you're still yourself. If you were to then have an artificial heart, maybe some bone replacements, and so on, you would still be you. So when you're finally Robocop, I think the identity would still be the same. Same applies if the brain were transplanted into a cloned body.

d*d

the brain is just organic matter the same as the rest of your body, theoretically I could use your brain because it's wired to your body the same as mine is. What this question relates to is where does our notion of self awareness come from, how are we able to make judgements - attach value to objects / ideas.

WillyPete

I guess it would answer for once and for all where the 'self' resided.
Most people would say the brain.

FatherTed

Yes, imagine a lot (but not all) of who we are today is our memories and experiences of life to date - that would all be held in our brain.

Outside that, there is our inherent strenghts and weaknesses as a person, both physical and mental. Does our brain have total control over these areas? I dont know?
If you have great hand-to-eye coordination, for example, how much of that is down to physical ability and how much mental agility? Dont know.

great question to ponder though

CSflim

Yeah sure, go for it. I would have no problem with trading bodies with someone.

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Manic_Skafe

Who I am is contingent upon the circumstances that shaped me into who I am. If my brain were to be removed and placed into a body that experienced life in every aspect of it the same way that I did then I would continue to live life as I always did.

But a situation like that is highly improbably if not impossible. I couldn't possibly be the same person I was in the other body just like I can't be the person I was a year ago.

Change the cirumstances and you change the person.

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qweds

Hi again,

The question this is supposed to get at is what are 'we' really. Are 'we' really human beings, souls, embodied minds or something else. While I personally agree that a 'self' would certainly awake after the transplant I don't believe that 'we' are fundamentally embodied minds, I take that to be one of the things we are which also comes after we are many other things. That is I don't believe our bodies 'just happen to be here too' where the brain is all that 'is really important'. We are not self-conscious until , at least, several months after birth and so consciousness development is clearly intimately tied to body development.

Further bodies minus the locus of generation of consciousness (upper brain removal) are still able to do many things they did before, many things intimately tied with being human, such as reproduce, ward of infection, grow and respond to stimuli.

Anyway just trying to stir things up a little more and thanks for the responses

tim(mah)

Suave

My perspective is that the self is simply linked to the physical world through the brain. Your "self" would still exist, but it would be altered, as the vital organs that filter your perceptions of the world would be altered. You would be you, but you wouldn't be you anymore.

Fate

If I understand the question correctly, you're saying "what if you had a fatal desease, and your twin was brain dead at the same time" so you transfer your brain into his/hers-

A person is located in their brain, but the body you are transplanted into (assuming this works), wouldn't be used to the actions the brain has performed in the previous body.
As an example... lets say your twin wasn't athletic, but you were. In your mind you should be able to lift X weight, or do X miles in running. Once your body tells you you're unable, I believe the mind will suffer some sort of setback.

To complete the question, "you" continue to exsist, but with a different vessel to charge your actions. I've heard of several stories, where people get certain transplants, and take on properties of the person who previously had the organ. Now, the person is the same person they were (mostly) before they had the transplant, but they have characteristics of another individual. Assuming your whole body is changed, you would have the same personality, but completely different characteristics.

the "you" is then morphed into a "them", two personal traits mixed together. If you've seen Ghost in the Shell the outcome would be the same as in the movie. A unison between the bodily characteristics, and the personality of the mind. So No, you wouldn't be "you", you would be a "them", which makes up the new "you".

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RespectThat

If your brain was transplanted to "bob," then you wouldn't be yourself or "bob." You would actualy be and people would refer to you as "new bob." You speak like bob, look like bob, but you don't act like bob. You are "new bob."

Zeraph

I am mind, so long as it went with my brain the core of me would still exist. Robot body here I come!

d*d

where in the brain is "i", you can cut off bits of the brain and still live (although you may not function perfectly and still have a sense of self) fundamentally i think our brains are a blank sheet of paper what we write on that paper determines "who" we are but that still doesn't explain why we are aware of who we are (let alone able to discuss it in a highly abstacted why on an internet forum)

ratiocination

I agree with d*d. you can have a brain that does all the things that it is supposed to do, but the debate about "awareness" is still controversial. For example, your brain may be able to feel the pain during an operation, but YOU do not feel it because you are not "aware." The brain is still functioniong, but it is not conveying that information to YOU. What is that YOU? I don't know .. it could be part of the brain or it could be something to more spiritual. It is this YOU that forms the basis of many basic theories of religion, which often raise man to a spiritual level..

So ultimately... we are all YOUs assigned physical shapes.