The brain is the centre of the human body. Everything else is there to service the brain -- directly or indirectly.
When the topic of keeping a human being's brain alive in a jar came up, it intrigued me. Could this be possible? Aren't other parts of the human body necessary. The more I thought about it, the more I realised it really could come to fruition some day.
- For starters, our legs exist basically to move our body around, which is in turn just to move our brain around.
- Our nervous system is just to carry messages to and from muscles and receptors in other parts of our body (that wouldn't be there if the head was in a jar). Any part of the nervous system outside of the head (i.e. spine, etc.) would not be necessary.
- Our digestive system exists only to create products to create energy for our cells. These necessities (such as glucose) could be fed artificially into the brain.
- Which brings me to my next point; giving the brain its other requirements artificially. Where the heart would usually take oxygen from the lungs, bond it with haemoglobin (or hemoglobin) and send it around the body (and more importantly, to the brain), blood could be created with all of the necessities (such as oxygen, sugars, hormones, etc.).
So, if the brain can be given all of the chemicals it needs to survive, and the muscles in the head/face can be maintained, is there any reason why a human head cannot be kept in a jar -- Futurama style? Also, would a head in a jar with the perfect "blood" mix be able to survive for longer than an entire human?
2002.04.09@02:22 C-Dawg says re Head In a glass jar: No nervous system needed, but sensory input is (if sentience is desired to be maintained)