Your brain in a jar

Sliver · 26 Jul 2017 at 17:31

G-MAN2004 said:
I hope we have something like Vanilla Sky soon. I'd opt for that straight away.

Yeah, I remember that film with Tom Cruise and the very hot Penelope Cruz. Even though it's not reality, because it was indistinguishable from reality then it's essentialy real. Kind of a paradox. It would be great, live forever (as long as the power didn't fail) stay young do amazing things as time wouldn't be a restraint. I'd want a pull switch though just in case I got bored or something went wrong.

adolf hamster · 26 Jul 2017 at 17:35

Sliver said:
A quick google revealed this ---> http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/red-dwarf/news/a822802/craig-charles-interview-red-dwarf/

Hope it comes off.

sweeeeet

dowie · 26 Jul 2017 at 17:55

for sure I'd take that choice, you're also giving yourself an option on potentially being able to get a new body one day

FortuitousFluke · 26 Jul 2017 at 20:36

Hmmm. Tricky. How nice is the jar?

hornetstinger · 26 Jul 2017 at 21:00

Thekwango said:
to answer the OP's question, rather than tack on some extras about robot bodies.....would I like to 'live' as a brain in a jar? no, most definitely not (ask me again on my death bed though) imagine the torture of seeing or hearing someone you love but not being physically able to embrace them? or physically interact with them in anyway. you're basically in a living coma state.
thanks but I'll take my chances on the angels/nothingness

Nothing like a coma state. In a comatose state you can't talk back, and may or not be able to hear.

You have full function of eyesight (say camera which concerts into electrical signal going into your optic nerve) full function of hearing, again microphones connected to auditory nerve. Communication is handled by a loudspeaker. Nerves connected to servo motors so you can move your jar around via motor and wheels.

So you watch, listen, talk back and move your brain jar around.

adolf hamster · 26 Jul 2017 at 21:09

hornetstinger said:
Nothing like a coma state. In a comatose state you can't talk back, and may or not be able to hear.

You have full function of eyesight (say camera which concerts into electrical signal going into your optic nerve) full function of hearing, again microphones connected to auditory nerve. Communication is handled by a loudspeaker. Nerves connected to servo motors so you can move your jar around via motor and wheels.

So you watch, listen, talk back and move your brain jar around.

problem is the logical progression of allowing interfaces for speech, hearing and eyesight is that you could just as easily interface the other senses too.

smell would be a bit of a tricky one (assuming current tech) but touch (or at least partial touch- force feedback) will be an option.

and wheels wouldn't be necessary- you could just use legs, the biggest issue with humanoid robots is teaching them to walk, but of course if it's being controlled by a human brain you'll already know how to walk, you'd just need to "retrain" your sense of balance to match the sensory input.

Sliver · 26 Jul 2017 at 21:15

FortuitousFluke said:
Hmmm. Tricky. How nice is the jar?

It's glass and jar shaped. Take it or leave it. Remember though, glass is brittle so you might want to consider a tin.

Thekwango · 26 Jul 2017 at 22:41

hornetstinger said:
Nothing like a coma state. In a comatose state you can't talk back, and may or not be able to hear.

You have full function of eyesight (say camera which concerts into electrical signal going into your optic nerve) full function of hearing, again microphones connected to auditory nerve. Communication is handled by a loudspeaker. Nerves connected to servo motors so you can move your jar around via motor and wheels.

So you watch, listen, talk back and move your brain jar around.

So much worse then. Thanks but I'll pass.

BlueMerle · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:08

Not a chance, but thanks for asking.

To be completely detached from my body while still retaining every single nerve ending for every square inch of that body in my brain... ?? I can't imagine a worse fate.

Itches you can't scratch, urges you can't satisfy... just shoot me.

To make it worse, you say I can see others and speak to them... where's the fun in that? Watch them eat, dance, kiss, hug, walk... ... ... Yeah, no!

Thekwango · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:21

BlueMerle said:
Not a chance, but thanks for asking.

To be completely detached from my body while still retaining every single nerve ending for every square inch of that body in my brain... ?? I can't imagine a worse fate.

Itches you can't scratch, urges you can't satisfy... just shoot me.

To make it worse, you say I can see others and speak to them... where's the fun in that? Watch them eat, dance, kiss, hug, walk... ... ... Yeah, no!

Exactly. Sounds like some awful form of torture reserved for paedophiles and suicide bombers (failed ones obviously!

)

HecarimOP · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:35

h0W ab00t n00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

BlueMerle · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:42

Thekwango said:
Exactly. Sounds like some awful form of torture reserved for paedophiles and suicide bombers (failed ones obviously!)

That's exactly what it would be, torture. Simple as...

jimjamuk · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:46

knowing my luck my jar would have been an old pickled onion jar not rinsed out properly

Trusty · 26 Jul 2017 at 23:52

Tefal · 27 Jul 2017 at 02:39

I suppose the big question is how long could you afford to be a brain in the jar.

What would you do for income/to make you worth the cost

Sliver · 27 Jul 2017 at 05:34

Tefal said:
I suppose the big question is how long could you afford to be a brain in the jar.

The brain needs a body to sustain it. It's the most energy intensive organ in the human body. You'd need a way to feed oxygen and nutrients. Then there is cellular decay. Human cells can only replicate a finite number of times. Cells have attached to them things called telomeres. This is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Every time a cell divides, the telemores get shorter. Eventually they get too short and the cell dies. This is basically why we get old, wither and die. So even a brain in a jar will die.

Kronos · 27 Jul 2017 at 05:36

No, I want death to be the end of everything, no afterlife, no reincarnation just future medics dissecting my body then chucking the remains into a furnace, the end.

Tefal · 27 Jul 2017 at 05:51

Sliver said:
The brain needs a body to sustain it. It's the most energy intensive organ in the human body. You'd need a way to feed oxygen and nutrients. Then there is cellular decay. Human cells can only replicate a finite number of times. Cells have attached to them things called telomeres. This is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Every time a cell divides, the telemores get shorter. Eventually they get too short and the cell dies. This is basically why we get old, wither and die. So even a brain in a jar will die.

Yeah but given it costs tens of K per week in intensive care think how much the brain in a jar costs are.

Energy for the brain is hardly an issue though glucose is dirt cheap.

Sliver · 27 Jul 2017 at 06:06

Tefal said:
Yeah but given it costs tens of K per week in intensive care think how much the brain in a jar costs are.

Energy for the brain is hardly an issue though glucose is dirt cheap.

I know but you can't escape cellular decay, it's inevitable. Besides I'd rather be dead than a brain in a jar, sounds like torture to me.

Tefal · 27 Jul 2017 at 06:20

Sliver said:
I know but you can't escape cellular decay, it's inevitable. Besides I'd rather be dead than a brain in a jar, sounds like torture to me.

Yeah but I dont think peoples money would last as long as thier telomeres