Star Trek

Here’s a wild thought, but it starts from tame ones: the brain is made up of a great many neurons, each of which has a fairly straightforward function. I don’t know exactly how they work, but they have tendrils (called axons, I think) that stretch out toward other neurons, and if enough of the "input" tendrils get stimulated somehow -- electrically, I think -- then the "output" tendrils give a little jolt to stimulate the neuron-tendrils they’re touching. Now I suppose there must be more detail to it than that, because (for instance) glandular secretions affect our thinking, and so they must affect neuron function somehow. But with some extra gizmos to take hormonal environment into account, I suppose with some more experimentation we could probably build a neuron.

Also, as I understand the current theories, the brain is something like a big "colony" of neurons: the information isn’t written on a particular neuron, it somehow resides in the pattern of impulses going through the whole structure. What I mean is, I think it would be reasonable to expect that if we build an artificial neuron and implanted its tendrils into the brain of a guinea pig, probably the other neurons would start using it without any objections. "’ere, now, ’oo are you?" they’d say, "well, nemmind that: long’s you’re ’ere, transmit these ’ere impulses fer me" and the artificial neuron would soon be one of the family.

Now at the rate we’re miniaturizing things, we could probably make our artificial neurons as small as a real one in a few more decades, and by the end of the century, maybe nanotechnology will have progressed to the point that we could actually build a "neuron factory" in something the size of a bottlecap. Then we could implant the "neuron factory" into the skull of a child when he’s about five and his brain has reached full size, and it could manufacture artificial neurons slowly -- a few hundred a second -- using raw materials from nutrients in the blood, the same as other body organs. The artificial neurons would make their way through the brain, looking especially for places where the natural neurons had been damaged or died naturally -- stretch out their tendrils, and take up residence.

But the artificial neurons are designed not only to imitate exactly the functions of natural ones. Also, they’re made with the capability to function not only on energy from blood nutrients like normal cells (although they would use that for energy for the first seventy years or so), but, alternatively, they can be powered by simple electric current. (They send out a couple of special tendrils to form a power grid with any nearby artificial neurons: the power grid is not electrified, however, until ...)

Now: eventually, the individual dies, as people are wont to do. His heart gives out, or whatever. But by that time, the artificial neurons have replaced nearly all the natural neurons, and are capable of carrying on his thought processes on their own. So a surgeon removes his brain, electrifies the power grid, and the person’s consciousness revives. The surgeon implants the brain into an android body, and the individual continues his life, carefully making a backup each day to guard against accidental death. Also, although the artificial neurons were kept functioning slowly to accommodate their natural-neuron neighbors, they are capable of functioning hundreds of times faster now that the naturals are gone: so the android body increases the clock rate and the individual is capable of thinking a hundred times faster.

If we ever make radio contact with other worlds, we could send them a full backup and instructions for how to construct an androidized individual, and the individual would wake up on another planet -- "teleported" there.

Good idea. but look what happened to poor Vedek Bariel.

I’ve forgotten what happened to Vedek Bariel. Did something like this go badly for him?

Mind you, I’m not saying I’d want to be the first one to try it out myself, or even the Nth one. It would be awfully tempting. But the spiritual issues are awfully profound.

In ’life support’ Bariel is critically injured in a mishap. He dies. Bashir finds a way to regenerate his neural pathways. He recovers to an extent, but starts to backslide. Vital organs begin to fail as a side effect of Bashir’s lifesaving procedure. Bashir administers an experimental drug that slows this degeneration down. But organs fail anyway. Bashir replaces said organs with artificial ones. This works for a time, but now brain damage is occurring. Bashir replaces half of Bariel’s brain, but Kira finds out the Bariel she knew is gone. He talks like Bariel, but cold and distant. Eventually the other half of his brain dies and with it, what’s left of Bariel. Great episode! The implant worked, but his personality was gone, and so was his Pagh. Maybe we can replace a brain one day, but the actual life and personality of an individual? Or their spirit? That is profound!

also the other problem is the way that the brain itself stores memory, it stores it in a string of chemicals called qn engram, a wee bit like dna if you will, but if you took an apple and showed it to 2 people the information "apple" would produce a different engram in each person, surely this would mean that although it would be theoretiacally possible you would have to tailor the procedure for the individual and to do that you would have to understand the entire engramatic construction of that person and be able to translate it, and given that we have not been able to decode the human gnome from dna which is a relatively simple task in comparison i dont see it becomming a real possability

This is the only possible way we could continue living in another body withoutm an expiry date. I’d do it. It’s safer than a transport even - you would still be ’you’ and who you think you are, as even right now neurons are dying and new ones being made. You wouldn’t loose your self-conciousness. Give me artificial neurons and I wouldn’t notice. Of course this would never happen. People are scared of technology like this. About 90% of the UK think GM food is ethically wrong and dangerous. But I bet these people take medcines and cures for diseases. Technology is just ’custom evolution’. We shouldn’t oopose it if it aids in the continuation and perfection of humanity.

A recent experiment on planaria suggest that the neurons do not store memory, but what they found is that if injecting protein from a dead planaria who slid through a maze, the planaria receiving the proteins will "remember" the maze and go through it faster than one who has never gone through it. The problem is as the individual ages or dies the proteins would degrade causing very bad memory. It would require the implant of protein from a man or woman who donates his body to science involving killing him/herself or serious mental complictions. You must draw out the protein while the donor is concious.

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