If it were possible to transplant your brain into another body, would “who you are” change?
I would guess that most of “who we are” is from our brain, but I also know that much of it can be attributed to our body as well. Think about how we perceive the world around us. Eyes(sight), ears(sound), nose(smell), skin(touch/feel), and mouth(taste). Much of the chemicals that effect our moods and thoughts are produced in the body as well. (i.e. hormone glands)
If the tools we used to perceive changed, how much would we change? Would we be the same person?
Also, what does this make of the soul? (that is if you believe there is one)
i think it would work fine. and wouldnt change who you are. mabye in time it would because the new body you have would require different thigns of the brain… but things like hormones are controlled BY the brain. but i think to answer the question better we would have to define what it is to be a person. which im not willing to take on seeing as it is 5:50 am
I`d argue no - though it depends whether you transplanted the whole, or just parts of the brain. The peripheral organs are just input devices, but have individual characteristics. Each brain is uniquely tailored to use them, and some remodelling would be required for a new brain to use them.
To be fair, though, the chances of this EVER being possible are virtually non-existent. The complexity and scale of innervation is almost beyond comprehension.
Considering that we store our memories and experiences in the brain, you would probably be someone else… cos, as far as i know, we are what we can remember of ourselves and others.
Even if you keen the eyes, ears… and all the rest. All the experiences that this body suffered during it’s like were ‘saved’ in the other brain. It’s like a pc hard drive.
you would have to have some knowledge of who you are, and then be able to rightly connect that it was your brain in anothers body or vice versa, in order to be able to say if you were different. as such then you would have to be able to recognise yourself but by not actually being yourself.
and then it could be said that you would still be you, because it is a you that you view, in order to be able to justify any differences.
Very true… You know that some people who do plastic surgery and get too different end up going a bit bananas… so you are right there.
But i will stick to what i said… so i guess it is impossible in the end to be yourself if you don’t have your own brain… 1st because your new brain wouldn’t have any information about yourself, so would neither recognize you or have your memories… so it would have someone elses memories but wouldn’t recognize the body… going mad… which could be considered as a rejection.
Reread the original post. Your brain would stay the same. Only your body would change, so I think that you actually agree.
Yoda,
I agree. You would need a pretty stable self-concept before the transplant. Either way though, I am sure that you would suffer some serious psychological side effects after the transfer. Major identity crisis!
The most important part of the question though is, how much would the new body and it’s inherent traits have on reshaping your personality? would it be to the extent of you being a different person? or would our previous memories of our old self be enough to keep us the same? I guess it really depends on where you want to draw the line.
it could even be considered as some development of or evolutional tack,
maybe it is as is seen and that is what is considered and propositionally applied as to be,
in agreement to why it is considered as such and of what relevance then it makes to the being as such rather than such other.
why is it considered that this is of our view and what then makes us in its relevance, maybe also as to what then is meant that be which we see.
how do we think of our issues of being, how limit or limitless to our thinking do we?
quote
{your brain wouldn’t recognize your new body, making you at least different if not driving you nuts.}
if it was your brain then whatever the body the brain accepts as being is that body.
we are considering that the brain identifies some new or another body and this may not be the case.
it would be considered as to appertain to which ever mind or body
it is suggested as to be.
tricky but then what does the mind recognize and why.
it would only drive you nuts if the thinking was limited so as not to be able to justify recognition.
if it was your brain then whatever the body the brain accepts as being is that body.
We are what we see of ourselves too. If you were white and changed your body to a black one, you would change… first you would be shocked looking at a mirror, secondly the measures of your body would also be different (please, don’t come with sexual comments here)… your voice would be different that the one you were used to… You would obviously change.
As I said before, people who do plastic surgeries sometimes go crazy because their faces are so different than they use to be that they have problems recognizing themselves.
I don’t think so.
We are what we of ourselves and other people’s reactions… maybe if you see your new body before actually being in it, you won’t go ‘mad’ but you would change a lot. You would look at yourself differently, people would treat you differently.
What if you are a man and then you put your brain into a woman’s body, don’t you think you would change? Would you still think that having sex with men would make you gay?
I agree. I seriously doubt that I could wake up in the morning, look in the mirror every day, see someone else’s face, and be A O.K. Not to mention the akwardness. Unless the people around you had no qualms what-so-ever about the transfer, you’re going to be treated differently, for better or worse. That difference could change your personality in any way (big or small).
What I was trying to convey is the question of how your brain would react to a new body. It would have been used to you original body for X number of years and now it has completely new DNA, cell and bone structure etc. I think the brain would freak out…
Excuse me for saying this but it would be more a question of how your body reacts to the new brain because the body is controlled by the brain and a new management system naturally means a big change. This change in the form of new directions may not be acceptable to the body and so they may goof! Or they may totally refuse or may not be compliant enough with, the new directions because they were programmed to perform in a certain way and you know what? It may not actually be possible for the employee team, the body, to accept the new management. Therefore, brain transplants are in my view impossible UNLESS some brilliant brain surgeon out there can program the body to somehow accept the new commands and understand and comply with them. BIG PROBLEM, HUGE IMPOSSIBILITY! Between identical twins it may be a possiblity but hey! Don’t even think of it, Since I wrote this post I’m not going to delete it. Besides, I think just like cloning it would be ethically wrong to try something like this no matter how dire the need, not to mention it would go against the spirits. I believe that a brain or mind is a small part of the higher consciousness and so, is actually the spirit. And so every mind (spirit) is SPECIFIC to a body, don’t nobody change it EVER. It would be even ridiculous not to mention unethical and completely useless to try and do a brain transplant.
Between identical twins it may be a possiblity but hey! Don’t even think of it, Since I wrote this post I’m not going to delete it. Besides, I think just like cloning it would be ethically wrong to try something like this no matter how dire the need, not to mention it would go against the spirits. I believe that a brain or mind is a small part of the higher consciousness and so, is actually the spirit. And so every mind (spirit) is SPECIFIC to a body, don’t nobody change it EVER. It would be even ridiculous not to mention unethical and completely useless to try and do a brain transplant.