Short of bringing the brain down to absolute zero, im not sure that stopping all brain processes is physically meaningful. we could talk about stopping all action potentials. I think you might see short term memory loss with this but you can probably reboot.
On Thursday, April 23, 2015, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au> wrote: > Stathis Papaioannou wrote: > >> >> >> On 23 April 2015 at 16:36, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au >> <javascript:;>> wrote: >> > Stathis Papaioannou wrote: >> >> >> >> On 23 April 2015 at 16:19, Bruce Kellett <bhkell...@optusnet.com.au >> <javascript:;>> >> >> wrote: >> >> >> >>>>> I doubt that. Is the point susceptible of proof either way? Not all >> >>>>> brain >> >>>>> processes stop under anaesthesia. >> >>>> >> >>>> >> >>>> When embryos are frozen all metabolic processes stop. On thawing, >> the >> >>>> embryo is usually completely normal. If this could be done with a >> >>>> brain would it make any difference in the philosophical discussion? >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> That becomes a hypothetical discussion. Let's do it first and >> discuss the >> >>> implications later. I remain sceptical about the possibility. An >> embryo >> >>> is >> >>> not an adult brain. Injecting antifreeze to inhibit cell rupturing >> might >> >>> have adverse consequences in the brain. >> >> >> >> >> >> In anaesthesia (and even in sleep) metabolic processes involved in >> >> consciousness are suspended without damage to the brain. But this >> >> whole list is hypothetical discussion! Mere technical difficulty does >> >> not affect the philosophical questions. >> > >> > >> > I think it might -- if the technical issues are such that the process >> is >> > impossible in principle (for physical reasons). >> >> Then it wouldn't be a mere technical difficulty. You have to show that >> suspending biological processes then restarting them breaks some physical >> law, and I don't think that it does. >> > > The argument would be that physical laws stop you restarting the suspended > processes -- the suspension process causes irreversible damage, for > instance. Irreversible processes are quite plentiful under known physical > laws. > > Bruce > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/everything-list/Lp5_VIb6ddY/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
