[Cold Iron]

kud13;264255 said:

Re: downloadable minds
Check out the holographic theory of the mind. below is the gist of it as taught in an introductive Cognitive psych class.
if our every thought is a pattern of neural connections, and we can represent those as vectors (and we have models to do that) Then, representing a thought (that is, an association/connection of two ideas/vectors) can be represented byt he convolution of these said vectors. Thus, we can , in fact, express our entire mind in a freakishly long vector (something like 10 to the power 260k numbers long)

Only our current minds. We cannot have foolproof predictive fuzzy logic that changes in the exact same manner as our actual minds change.

[cerveza_fiesta]

I imagine it pretty much exactly how SE describes it in his POVs actually. It was one of the things that struck me the most strongly about his writing. I read that first POV and was like "HOLY SHIT THIS MAN IS IN MY BRAIN". But seriously...same as SE's POVs

[Urb]

Medical question:
Does the brain have an expiration date?
I know the heart can only beat so many times before it is worn out and just stops working. And I seem to recall that this applies to other organs as well. Does this apply to the brain? Could we in theory just replace the worn out organs every 50 - 70 years and live on forever?

[Mentalist]

THe thing is, according to popular belief, Brain cells don't regenerate.
I can't quite remeber atm if that's true or not, I believe they do, albeit only early on in life, and very slowly...
but the point is, there is a finite amount of space inside our skulls. And removing some dead cells to graft a fresh batch would disturb the existing patterns of connections (aka: memories and thoughts), and that's generally not a good thing, esp, since we can't really pinpoint which cells correspond to which memories...

[Urb]

But the brain would not stop working if the heart kept beating for another 100 years?

Also, I read an article where they stated (from scientific research) that physical excercise makes your memory better, because you produce more fresh braincells than you would if you just sat around on your ass all day. So yeah, brain cells regenerate at least a little bit.

[Mentalist]

now my knowledge of neurophysiology is not what it used to be, but..
I'm fairly certain, that, like all cells, brain cells have a finite lifespan. How long you can prolong it by, prolly depends on the overall health of an individual.

But the thing is, you can't just look at rejuvinating a single organ.
A brain is a processing unit. It needs sources of input, and it needs ways to express output. by itself, no matter how complex it is, it's useless. a brain must be connected to sensory organs to perceive input and to the physical body to manifest output.

[Urb]

kud13;264561 said:

But the thing is, you can't just look at rejuvinating a single organ.

No, no. You only rejuvenate (exchange with cloned organs?) all the others, not the brain (obviously). What I'm wondering is if that could work in theory. If it could, then you have your immortality right there.

[Mezla PigDog]

Urb;264481 said:

Medical question:
Does the brain have an expiration date?
I know the heart can only beat so many times before it is worn out and just stops working. And I seem to recall that this applies to other organs as well. Does this apply to the brain? Could we in theory just replace the worn out organs every 50 - 70 years and live on forever?

I don't think the maximum lifespan of each organ is pre-ordained. I expect your genes will give a rough estimate of how well you're made but then your life will have a massive effect on each individual organs lifespan. Nutrition, exercise, radiation exposure, viruses, infections, cancer all have an effect. Aging of organs is related to cell division which requires DNA replication. As you get older, errors and duplications in each chromosome build up (particularly at the ends), making replication more inefficient and cells age as they get more rubbish. It's how cancer gets started. So....I can't remember what my point was when I started typing this :confused: Umm, you might be able to replace organs but what about all the cells that make up your circulation, skin, muscle and nervous system? They all get old too. So, I think the short answer is "No"

[Urb]

Ok. Guess we'll have to merge with the machines to achieve immortality then.

[Skywalker]

Urb;264574 said:

Ok. Guess we'll have to merge with the machines to achieve immortality then.

Even then, entropy is our enemy. Everything fails eventually.

[Urb]

By immortality, I mean: the possibility of staying alive for thousands of years. As in, no longer "mortal". I see your point, but you know what I mean.

[Skywalker]

Urb;265184 said:

By immortality, I mean: the possibility of staying alive for thousands of years. As in, no longer "mortal". I see your point, but you know what I mean.

I see you, you see me, we both eventually die.

(A short history of humanity)