Can you live forever?? Seriously

[wade.daniel.w]

As life expectancy extends more problems are shown to come, consider this however, how long do you think a brain can stay alive? First all, what is needed to sustain the life of a brain, by itself, no skull, no organs attached, just the brain. I've looked all over, as this subject becomes increasingly interesting to me but haven't found anything on this except for a company in korea (brain science research center) that's connecting a brain to a nueral network in an attempt to use a brain independent from a body, but I believe if we can study the effects, of keeping a brain indepentantly alive by creating a "simulated skull" for it to live in and supply what's neccisary for it's continued existance, then we can learn several things ranging from problems occuring from age to the question is it possible for humans to live forever or will the brain actually give in at some point and force death? Not to mention that fact that only a small percentage of our brain is used, this may force it to expand it's use to do who knows what? The brain today is not fully understood.

 

hypothesis: it would work if done correctly and can eventually be encorperated to keep people alive by replacing there bodies with manufactured one (I know it sounds like something out of a sci fi movie but when considering this it is not that far fetched or beyond impossiblilty)

 

tests: ANY ONE KNOW OF ANYTHING/COMPANY/ORGANIZATION that has tested this or that I can write to them to convince them this would be useful to test?

[A Childs Mind]

1 word.........zombie

[wade.daniel.w]

1 word.........zombie

 

lol, not quite, more like a brain in a jar but connected to an aparatus that supports it's life.

(not a body, or a person in a coma, just the brain)

[iNow]

What happens to that brain in a jar when earth dies, or the sun burns out, or the universe freezes/crunches/bounces etc.? What then?

 

 

Forever is a long time, so the answer... to be blunt... is NO.

[A Childs Mind]

lol, not quite, more like a brain in a jar but connected to an aparatus that supports it's life.

(not a body, or a person in a coma, just the brain)

ahhh like the brain thing from teen tightans.....yes i watch cartoons still bite me

[wade.daniel.w]

What happens to that brain in a jar when earth dies, or the sun burns out, or the universe freezes/crunches/bounces etc.? What then?

 

 

Forever is a long time, so the answer... to be blunt... is NO.

 

real ball buster huh, well lets say to keep a brain alive indefinately?

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btw I don't believe in some of those theories (universe freezes/crunches/bounces), lol there's NO where near enough proof to accuratley support them. you waiting for an end or something iNow? earth dies, sun burns out, we move (we can by then). but your right, on a long enough time line something would most likely kill it.

Edited April 9, 2009 by wade.daniel.w
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[iNow]

Whatever you believe about the universe and its possible end, our Sun will burn out long before that time, and your brain in a jar will be long gone... it will be neither forever nor indefinite.

[wade.daniel.w]

Whatever you believe about the universe and its possible end, our Sun will burn out long before that time, and your brain in a jar will be long gone... it will be neither forever nor indefinite.

 

 

dude you're a moron. Quit following all my threads and grow up

[iNow]

dude you're a moron. Quit following all my threads and grow up

 

Does this mean you are incapable of rebutting my point? Please note, I accept your concession.

[einstein's bro]

Whatever you believe about the universe and its possible end, our Sun will burn out long before that time, and your brain in a jar will be long gone... it will be neither forever nor indefinite.

 

indefinite can be 1yr if need be, dude you're a moron.

[wade.daniel.w]

you don't think we'll have the technology to leave earth and go to another planet by the time the sun dies?? you do not realize our technology is increasing EXPONENTIALLY right now?!? we may even be able to teleport matter by then, who knows. sounds like you're just trying to argue dude, get a life

[iNow]

indefinite can be 1yr if need be, dude you're a moron.

 

Wrong yet again, kid.

 

 

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indefinitely

Adverb

 

indefinitely

 

1. For a long time, no end defined

2. Forever

 

See also: endlessly

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you do not realize our technology is increasing EXPONENTIALLY right now?!? we may even be able to teleport matter by then, who knows. sounds like you're just trying to argue dude, get a life

 

Actually, it's increasing geometrically, but watching you flounder around is pretty fun (although, I must admit, it feels kind of like poking a retarded kid with a sharp pointy object).

Edited April 9, 2009 by iNow
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[einstein's bro]

I'm an idiot.

 

 

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indefinitely

Adverb

 

indefinitely

 

1. For a long time, no end defined

2. Forever

 

 

definition 1 (the most used i might add (reason why it's number 1)) "no end defined" in other words could be 1 yr, could be 2 yrs etc... Like I said, you're a moron

[iNow]

lets say to keep a brain alive indefinately?

 

indefinite can be 1yr if need be, dude you're a moron.

 

definition 1 (the most used i might add (reason why it's number 1)) "no end defined" in other words could be 1 yr, could be 2 yrs etc... Like I said, you're a moron

 

So, you're argument (obviously, besides your assertion that I'm a moron) is that the Sun at the center of our solar system is going to burn out within 1 to 2 years?

 

That's curious, and seems to disagree with all other estimates of us having roughly 5 billion more years before that happens.

 

 

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/ast99/ast99342.htm

About 5 billion years from now, according to our best theories of the way stars get older. The first thing it will do is expand the outer surface of the star, probably to close to the earth's orbit, which will be pretty much the end of things here.

 

 

Now, I'm not exactly going to be crying myself to sleep tonight if you call me a moron again (regardless of which of your several sock puppet accounts from which you choose to do so), but you might wish to look back at your comments to this thread and see just how far from grace you've fallen. That's just a nickel's worth of free advice, so do with it what you will.

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I'm an idiot.

 

While I can't help but to agree, you really shouldn't be so hard on yourself.

[mooeypoo]

indefinite can be 1yr if need be, dude you're a moron.

No, it can't be, indefinite is indefinite.

 

I suggest you go over our rules of conduct. Quickly.

[padren]

How about we go with a definition of "Can a human brain's life be extended to the point where survive continuously in use barring external trauma and events?" Really the question is can someone escape the "life span" and just live until you fail to see a bus or something.

 

Personally, I wonder if software could be a point of failure. After a 1000 yrs, would a brain have to forget information to learn new information? Does memory get fragmented over very long periods of time that evolution could not have prepared us for as those run-times were never encountered?

The brain could be the hardest part of a human to keep going.

 

At this point it's pretty heavy on speculation though - especially when we get into the question of what will be technologically possible by the time the sun burns out.

 

 

Also: I'd be afraid of going stark raving mad if I was a brain in a jar. Talk about sensory deprivation.

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indefinite can be 1yr if need be, dude you're a moronprovoking a response easily.

 

FTFY

 

...just so we could get back to the topic.*

 

*Besides we all know 1 year is a definite and exact measure of time.**

**We also know if you are "on leave indefinitely" it could be a year or it could be forever among other possibilities - so we'll skip what you said in favor of what you meant - onward!

Edited April 9, 2009 by padren
Consecutive posts merged.

[Mr Skeptic]

Yes, it is possible in theory to prevent aging (which is not the same as living forever aka immortality). Whether we can do that now is another story. Freezing would work, but currently will cause massive damage at the cellular level, which might not be a problem if they can fix that in the future. Many organisms live indefinitely (some trees, all bacteria, and certain animals -- for the multicellular ones, living indefinitely means growing indefinitely). There are multiple problems that need to be solved if we want to prevent aging in humans.

[jimmydasaint]

I find the attacks on iNow absolutely unacceptable and personal and will not now contribute to this thread. I advise all sensible persons to do the same.

[SH3RL0CK]

Considering the mind can remain functional even amongst those who live very long, see for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment , there certainly is potential for a longer lifespan without significant loss of mental functions such as happens with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimers_disease for example.

 

As to how long the brain will remain so is pure speculation as so little is understood. It is my belief that certainly the mind could remain active for considerably longer, possibly even thousands of years but eventually the brain would stop functioning correctly. To extend it to geological timeframes or to forever does not seem possible given the current design.

[TheUnknown]

IMO, it could be completely possible. There's no data (yet) that says that the brains CAN'T live, say, 1000 years past its bodies due.

 

Another way to achieve virtual infinite life, would be to do a sort of "Brain-scan" and then create a silicon based replicate.

[Sayonara]

IMO, it could be completely possible. There's no data (yet) that says that the brains CAN'T live, say, 1000 years past its bodies due.

You mean, apart from all the dead people with dead brains.

[Mag]

You would need a constant supply of glucose.

but brain functioning does tend to decrease as time goes on.

 

So, are you asking for a healthy brain living for many years, or just any brain?

[GDG]

As life expectancy extends more problems are shown to come, consider this however, how long do you think a brain can stay alive? First all, what is needed to sustain the life of a brain, by itself, no skull, no organs attached, just the brain. I've looked all over, as this subject becomes increasingly interesting to me but haven't found anything on this except for a company in korea (brain science research center) that's connecting a brain to a nueral network in an attempt to use a brain independent from a body, but I believe if we can study the effects, of keeping a brain indepentantly alive by creating a "simulated skull" for it to live in and supply what's neccisary for it's continued existance, then we can learn several things ranging from problems occuring from age to the question is it possible for humans to live forever or will the brain actually give in at some point and force death? Not to mention that fact that only a small percentage of our brain is used, this may force it to expand it's use to do who knows what? The brain today is not fully understood.

 

hypothesis: it would work if done correctly and can eventually be encorperated to keep people alive by replacing there bodies with manufactured one (I know it sounds like something out of a sci fi movie but when considering this it is not that far fetched or beyond impossiblilty)

 

tests: ANY ONE KNOW OF ANYTHING/COMPANY/ORGANIZATION that has tested this or that I can write to them to convince them this would be useful to test?

 

First off, it is not true that the brain uses only a small percentage of its capacity. This is a common misconception, probably arising from a misunderstanding of the work done by Wilder Penfield. WP was the brain surgeon who famously stimulated parts of the cerebral cortex while operating on patients with epilepsy: the patients then reported what they experienced. The idea behind this was to cut out the spot that was causing seisures while avoiding cutting out any tissue that was "important". For example, if stimulating a particular spot caused the patient's index finger to move, WP figured that that spot of brain controlled the finger, and that removing that spot would effectively paralyze the finger (so he didn't remove such spots). Over time and numerous patients, WP developed a map of the cortex with locations for various body parts (sensory and motor), hearing, language, etc. Most of the spots, however, had no obvious function.

 

The key word there is "obvious." The fact that WP could not determine what the function was does not mean that the spot had no function. Later experiments have shown that some of these spots have pretty subtle functions, like the ability to identify nouns, or adjectives, or recognize animals, or power tools. Obviously, when you have a patient lying in the operating room with their skull open, you cannot test for absolutely every possible function. It is much more likely that absolutely every part of your brain is used, particularly as it is known that neurons that are not used are subject to apoptosis -- literally "use it or lose it."

 

At present, the only sort of human tissue that we can keep alive indefinitely is essentially tumor tissue. Doesn't make for very good brains Assuming that the medical problems are worked out, however, there would be no need to resort to "brains in jars". The brain is a tissue, just like the rest of the body: if you can arest aging in the brain, you should also be able to do so throughout the rest of the body -- with much more comfortable results

[Mr Skeptic]

I think that there is a word for people who use a larger portion of their brain than average all at once: epileptic. I don't think that the brain could survive the vast majority of it being used at full capacity all at once for a significant period of time. In any case, some parts of our brain have specialized uses and you can't really use them for something else anyways.

[Psycho]

The possibility of living forever could occur but the complexities would be immense as inevitably tumour cells would form in different areas of the body and end up kill the person, there are several possible solutions to this problem one of course as is done now is surgically removing them and radiotherapy, but that would just increase the likelihood of tumours occur somewhere else which would be significant in living forever. A second approach would be to "reset" your organs, this could be done by killing off the old cells and then growing organs, bone marrow and other requirements using stem cells harvested from you as a child when the DNA has had less chance of mutation and even creating stem cells with samples of DNA. Then the organs could be transplanted into you, but there would still be a ridiculous amount of complications like brain tissue and blood vessels which would be very hard to replace without serious damage. Of course none of this is currently possible, but the very basics of some of those ideas are being develop currently.

 

Another process which maybe feasibly possible a long time in the future is downloading the information out of your brain and putting it into an inorganic or organic life form, but that is probably hundreds of years off if it is even possible at all.