Mouse Brain Flies Plane What can come of this?

[Vicious_AD 0]

Story here

I know this may be kinda old news, because it's from last years, but I just remembered an article I read a while back about a lab grown mouse brain that has been put hooked up to a computer to a flight simulator. My concerns are these:

1) If it's that easily possible to do, then would it be possible/humane to hook up a comatose victim to a huge and extremely lifelike and extremely secure mmorpg? If that where possible, then would communication be possible with them between a huge master computer and a other comatose victims? I know that a flight simulator is much simpler than an mmorpg, but a rat brain is also much simpler than a human brain. I think that it would be possible if the brain was that of a young child,rather than an adult, because that may aid in their brain accepting it as a reality, because their brain is still in a developmental stage like that of the rat, who was grown for this purpose.

2) If said theory is possible, would it also be possible after time to use this system to wake the patient from the coma, using computer-like prompts? Of course computers do not function the same as human brains, but while computers use binary, we could attempt to use a combination of electrical stimulations and subliminal images to try to wake the patient.

3) If/when they woke up, how would they react to the change in reality? While the mmorpg would seem like a reality visually and aesthetically, it is very different to ours in terms of psychology. That all goes into the theory of nihilism though. What is reality if not what you perceive it to be?

4) Is this all going too far?

[Sarah81 0]

You pose some very interesting questions in this post. I don't really know much about science (or MMORPGs, hehe), so I can't give any *definitive* responses - just guesses that are more my imagination than anything else.I think that computers and humans are someday going to be so closely enmeshed with one another that it will be sickening. Seriously. Go to the Wired magazine archives and look up the issue in which they did a cover story about using computers and virtual-reality type things to help a blind guy see. The photos are pretty gruesome (they actually had to, uh, install the computer wiring and such in this guy's head). Disgusting? Probably not to the guy who was able to see (grainy, simple images, granted, but his brain still transmitted them so that he could pick them up and interpret them the way that we do when we look around). So, we're already starting things like you're talking about with the coma-patient questioning. I'm sure that we'll only become more advanced as we continue experimenting and asking various questions.

[Khymnon 0]

A provocative post, Vicious_AD!

 

The truth is, your article posed questions that assumed certain things about reality and the current situation. Don't get me wrong, I would never try to step on anybody's right to think and form opinions; it's what philosophy is all about, anywy.

 

I don't think I can answer your questions, but perhaps I can comment on them ...

 

1) If it's that easily possible to do, then would it be possible/humane to hook up a comatose victim to a huge and extremely lifelike and extremely secure mmorpg? If that where possible, then would communication be possible with them between a huge master computer and a other comatose victims? I know that a flight simulator is much simpler than an mmorpg, but a rat brain is also much simpler than a human brain. I think that it would be possible if the brain was that of a young child,rather than an adult, because that may aid in their brain accepting it as a reality, because their brain is still in a developmental stage like that of the rat, who was grown for this purpose.

As for that being possible, I certainly wouldn't know, even though I'm in the medical field. Everyone knows how complicated a human brain is, and so there's no telling what's possible and what's not about it.

 

As for it being humane, I personally think it wouldn't be .. not with our current knowledge. Because, you see, we frequently hear about comatosed people who the doctors announce for whom there's no chance, or even hope, of coming back, and yet they do.

 

And if we consider doing that for humane purposes, such as preparing comatosed patients for real life using MMORPGs, in case they wake up, well ... we don't even know for sure whether comatosed patients are responsive to such stimuli. Yes, there seems to be enough brain-activity to warrant thinking about it, but the interviews with comatosed patients who came back give inconclusive, widely varying reports.

 

2) If said theory is possible, would it also be possible after time to use this system to wake the patient from the coma, using computer-like prompts? Of course computers do not function the same as human brains, but while computers use binary, we could attempt to use a combination of electrical stimulations and subliminal images to try to wake the patient.

 

3) If/when they woke up, how would they react to the change in reality? While the mmorpg would seem like a reality visually and aesthetically, it is very different to ours in terms of psychology. That all goes into the theory of nihilism though. What is reality if not what you perceive it to be?

If you want a simple answer, it's: I don't know! If you want a sophisticated answer, it's: I veritably don't know!

 

4) Is this all going too far?

In this life, I believe there's no such thing as "going too far." We should always keep dreaming, keep asking, keep experimenting ...

 

Because, who knows, maybe comatosed patients can still communicate with us, maybe a MMORPG is not that different from so-called "real-life," maybe the brain is simpler than we all thought and we were just looking at it from the wrong direction.

 

Thank you for a lovely thread, Vicious_AD. Keep it coming.

[szupie 0]

Vicious AD, I don't think hooking up a brain to a mmorpg is possible right now, but it could be in the future. I've saw this show, and it was about a guy who could not move, but had a functional brain. They hooked him up to a basic computer, and after much training, he could simply use his brain to control the cursor on the screen. He could also click with his cursor to check his e-mail and draw (although it looks really bad--they're just large circular scribbles). If it is that difficult to do such a simple task, I don't think a brain will be able to control its mmorpg person. Yet.

Sarah81: Are you talking about this article? Too bad the pictures are gone...

[Vicious_AD 0]

Thanks for your responses. I figured it would probably not be possible in this time period, but I doubt anyone in the dark ages ever imagined a little box that sits in your home, through which you can access almost all the knowledge of your home (computer) either, did they? After-all, the human only uses about 15 percent of it's brain, right? Maybe it's possible to harness the other %85, and this is a perfect window into it. I just hope that we don't end up rewriting existence as we know it, because there's already enough uncertanties in life.