The mind boggles!
I see this is Japanese research - perhaps it's designed to produce a particularly rarefied sushi where the fish's thoughts are wrapped in rice and rolled in salmon roe.
Showing posts with label science news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science news. Show all posts
Friday, 1 February 2013
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Communicating with the nearly dead
From the Guardian, I see that scientists have been able to establish communication with a supposedly brain dead patient.
It's good news for this guy, and I hope it helps other people, but a few thoughts occur.
First off, previous discussion of such communications through twitches or hand squeezes are fraught with suggestions of carers/assistants either consciously or unconsciously providing the stimulus themselves - is this just a high tech equivalent? I'm not a scientist but I wonder...
Secondly, how wierd would that be? If you were lying there, could you even trust the voices? What choice do you have, of course - the answer to solipsists everywhere - but still, if it were me I'd be thinking, trapped there in my cage - is this for real? Or is my mind just playing more tricks?
It's good news for this guy, and I hope it helps other people, but a few thoughts occur.
First off, previous discussion of such communications through twitches or hand squeezes are fraught with suggestions of carers/assistants either consciously or unconsciously providing the stimulus themselves - is this just a high tech equivalent? I'm not a scientist but I wonder...
Secondly, how wierd would that be? If you were lying there, could you even trust the voices? What choice do you have, of course - the answer to solipsists everywhere - but still, if it were me I'd be thinking, trapped there in my cage - is this for real? Or is my mind just playing more tricks?
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