For me “How long could I get away with driving like an ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE all the time before I lost my licence or had an accident.” Speed limits, red lights, stop signs… forget them all. Every day I have to drive sensibly and obey the law because without my licence I dont have a job, and every day I see at least one person driving like an absolute moron and I wonder…
I’d want to know how many people would continue eating meat if they had to kill the animal themselves after getting trained how to do it. Or as an alternative instead of doing the killing yourself being physically present while someone else does it for you and you have to watch, smell, and hear them prepare it for you.
Is it really unethical though?
What happens when we reverse Earth’s rotation.
While interesting I feel that one is more “Hilarously impractical” than anything else.
Lois Lane gets rescued.
I’m fairly certain that there’s a What If video on this by the XKCD guy, Randall Munroe.
It may not be possible, but I want to gradually replace a person’s brain piece-by-piece with the same areas from other brains and see if they retain their sense of self when none of the original brain remains.
And keep the old pieces, in the end assemble them back together and see what the differences are
We can satisfy this curiosity with a fair amount of scientific evidence.
Of course, most regions of the brain are so densely and variably interconnected that the technical difficulty of “replacing parts” precedes the ethical consideration by many, many years. But we do have a great deal of evidence for how our subjective sense of self is affected by “losing/removing parts” of the brain. Patients are often unaware of change unless evidence for it is overwhelming, and even then are adept at healing/reconciling instinctively. It appears that this is just something brains have evolved to do.
So while the technology (and sheer artistry) required to match and “stitch” these networks is quite staggering, basically magic, it is theoretically possible that a patient could have every part replaced without recognizing any continuity errors in the chimeric stages, until one day they wake up as a completely different person.
How would you know if your sense of self is changing? Surely you always feel like yourself else you wouldn’t be you…?
The brain of Theseus!
It would also require centuries, so it’s not as possible, but breeding people for very specific traits and features. Whether appearance, physical strength, overall intelligence, specifically being great in mathematics, great smell, great sight.
Basically, control the evolution by favoring very specific features and outright disallowing others (like hereditary diseases/disorders) that would be unacceptable in the mix.
Since this requires a lot of time which I’d somehow theoretically have (I know, this wasn’t in the post, but anyway…), I’d want to try yet another thing. Breeding at the most late age possible, then continuing with that and extending it. Perhaps it would lead to increased lifespan, or at least lesser effects of aging in the far far offsprings. At least physically. These experiments don’t exactly favor mental health of the subjects.
We already did this unintentionally during our natural evolution. All we really got out of it were a group of humans who can run slightly faster on average, and a group of humans who can drink milk as adults without shitting themselves.
I imagine the timeframe to get any noticable results would be in the thousands of years, even with deliberate selection for specific genes.
How many clowns can you fit inside an unmodified VW Bug if survivability is no longer a concern.
Raise a kid in a sensory deprivation chamber, with one exception: a monitor that only shows gen alpha brainrot videos. When they’re like 14 drop them off in a populated area and see what happens
Realistically would just end up a developmentally stunted invalid. There was an example from some book, I don’t remember which, where there was a SE Asian woman who lived with her family and had a baby.
The family was ashamed, so they forced the girl to keep the baby by itself in the attic. She would go to work most of the day, and come back to take care of it when home. That was the total extent of interaction and stimulation the baby got. It ended up being severely stunted and never learned to talk.
Essentially young children need human interaction which includes warmth and constant validation, caring for, etc
If you interrupt that in any way, you end up with a feral child who is permanently stunted.
How far can you strip down the human body until it can’t survive anymore. Assisted feeding and breathing is okay. Adjustable room temperature too.
Arms, Legs? Gone. Can we get rid of the skin? Probably, if the room is the right temperature? Bones? Most of them aren’t needed, are they? Some organs surely can go too.
Basically, what is the bare minimum needed so the body and the mind still more or less work.
Yo, same what I was gonna to comment.
It would be fascinating to see if we could archive a “brain in a jar” by this.
Even more when considering that a big bunch of non-brain neurons are in the belly-area. So would it affect how we think?So, firstly, may I suggest you check youtube for one of the now many ‘Adventures of Torso’ type videos done in Kenshi.
But as far as keeping a ‘minimum viable’ human actually alive?
You could remove limbs, but you would still have to have a method for them to eat and urinate and deficate.
You… almost certainly could not remove all skin and keep someone alive for very long.
For starters, they’d bleed to death. Secondly, the pain of existing without skin would probably literally kill them or drive them to try to kill themselves. Thirdly: Skin prevents infections, you’d have to keep them in basically a totally hermetically sealed room or container.
Bones? A de-boned human?
Well there’s almost certainly not a way to remove all of your spinal bones and skull without causing death or immensely serious paralysis and/or brain damage.
Sure you could remain alive without all your limbs if you have caretakers, you can survive without your lower jaw as well… You can maybe? survive with the loss of a certain high percentage of your ribcage, but probably not with the entirety of it and your sternum removed.
Organs? Well, brain, heart and liver are almost certainly mandatory.
Though you can remove portions of your liver and it can still function and regrow to some extent…
…and portions of your brain… though you’ll lose cognitive abilities, memories and basically become braindead but still technically alive at some point.
Assuming we are just removing things and maybe hooking you up to various kinds if life support tubes and not replacing organs with some kind of mechanical or genetically engineered equivalent:
I think you can survive without any kidneys if you are constantly on dialysis, but its far better to have at least one.
Similarly: Lungs, you need at least one.
You can have your stomach and intestines and bladder partially removed or reshaped, but not entirely.
You can survive without eyes… and a gallbladder and a thymus and a spleen and an appendix and your tonsils… and your adenoids, and your sex organs, but you’re gonna need a great deal of monitoring and bloodwork and hormone balancing and what not.
How do I unimagine that?
You should watch Johnny Got His Gun if you haven’t. Not quite as extreme but kind of similar theme.
That’s what the video to One by Metallica is based on, isn’t it?
No, that’s a landmine victim. ‘One’ is an antiwar song.
“Landmine has taken my sight, taken my speech, taken my hearing…”
I guess someone forgot to tell Metallica when they were writing the song that it wasn’t about a landmine.
And I guess someone previously forgot to tell Dalton Trumbo when he wrote ~Johnny Got His Gun~ that it wasn’t an anti-war novel.
And then they forgot to tell him again thirty-two years later when he directed the movie adaptation, Johnny Got His Gun.
And then, worst of all, they forgot to tell the directors of the music video that “One” was anti-war and Johnny Got His Gun was about a landmine and that using scenes from the film in the music video wouldn’t be thematically appropriate.
Damn, there were a lot of missteps! Good thing you set it all straight!
Correct, they bought the rights to the movie to not have to continually pay royalties for it.
This was the topic of an episode of the podcast That’s Absurd, Please Elaborate, which I highly recommend. Unfortunately I can’t find the episode right now. https://thatsabsurdshow.com/
Hey! Somebody figured out the plot of the seminal sci-fi novel, “Don’t create the torment Nexus”!
For this you don’t need a human, Can start with monkeys.
Disclaimer: I don’t want this experiment to happen.
Cyborg-like implants. I want titanium joints and UV vision and magnetic field sensors and charging my phone by laying it on my belly. Uncap each finger to reveal a small tool: screwdriver, USB key, cutting blade, etc.
Note that none of that includes or requires a constant connection to a network/internet. I want to augment my interactions with the real world, not replace them with a virtual world.
Biohackers have been toying with very primitive versions of this for over a decade.
Things like implanting RFID capsules in their hands or fingers to act as credit cards or key fobs… lots of fun infections.
I am fairly sure the movement has basically died out since bluetooth became widespread.
On the other hand, you can always sign up as a test subject for neuralink rofl.
It’s still a thing
I’ve looked forward to this most of my life, but given how things have changed, I would never do it. There’s no way these implants wouldn’t be subscription based, and spy on everything you do. Oh, you forgot to pay your enhanced eyeball subscription? Now you’re blind, motherfucker!
What would power these implants?
The power of SCIENCE!
Giant Qi charging pad on your bed.
Linux, most likely.
Oh boy do I have an 80’s cartoon for you…
Go-go-gadget…
Gorillas on steroids. How bulky can these magnificent already bulky beasts get?
Oh, I like this one.
Mind you Ive seen a cranky Silverback at the zoo, one with an extra gram of test and tren a day would be utterly fucking terrifying, also the roadrage would be something to behold… dibs not being the poor fucker giving it its shots.
Look up a shaved silverback… them mofos are scary.
Most big animals that are already properly scary with fur dont improve when shaved.
Roid rage comes from excess estrogen production, not from testosterone. I’d assume that a managed steroid treatment for a gorilla would include estrogen blockers.
Yeah, and if you want to climb in there and take his bloods and administer the androgen blockers you are welcome to.
Human genetic engineering. I’m sure governments are already doing this, because the technology is already here.
You could create super soldiers or very intelligent people. You could then copy them in cloning vats and have an army of people you could shape and mold to your will.
Could experiment with all sorts of stuff. For example they’ve put biiluminescent genes from certain fish into frogs to make glowing frogs. Now imagine giving humans the raw power of chimps. Or the ability to see UV light like birds. Or venomous spit. Or the power to smell like dogs.
the power to smell like dogs
I know how it was meant, but imagine a new X-men hero who has only the ability to smell like a wet dog. That’s some Deadpool level of absurdity.
I was imagining a human who is constantly shoving his face in other people’s butts and crotches for a good sniff.
I think I sat next to him on the bus once
make a fallout shelter and have some isolated communities there live off purely of either one of meta, apple, or alphabet products (or any large enough multinational like nestle).
all for the science of understanding addiction and brand cultism.
Cloning is the first one that comes to mind for me. If you could somehow avoid the horrors of the process of learning a reliable methodology the result wouldn’t necessarily be unethical.
We can do sheep. And thus pretty much know how that would go for humans.
Testing a ton of medication for pregnant/breastfeeding women. So much medication I couldn’t take, simply because it’s not considered ethical to have the studies done, since it could affect the baby in all sorts of ways. Which we can’t clear up without the studies. So annoying.
Eugenics. Not the racist BS that was done in the past, but really pushing the limit to see if we can breed super humans. Genetic editing to make humans immune to cancer or disease. Increased lifespan. Resistance to radiation. Smarter. Stronger. Better.
Arguably, this kind of thing is actually somewhat of a necessity if we ever want to explore the stars. We are far too fragile in our current bodies to survive the difficulties and vastness of space.
Honestly, I’d be super stoked if we could just get rid of all the actual serious defects, just, whack a few moles that really super suck for anyone who gets the short end of the genealogical stick.
And by that I mean like
- Huntington’s Disease
- Early onset and regular non early onset Arthritis
- My entire family bloodline is prone to heart issues/cancer type beat
- Crohn’s
Raise a child on their own without any exposure to language. Could be interesting to see how their perspective on the world develops.
I think this was done? Long time ago, maybe in an Russian orphanage or something? If my memory serves me well, those kids all died, despite even having food etc…
Edit: might be confusing that with lack of social interaction. But either way, here’s some reading for you
Yes that experiment was raising babies without human touch. Apparently it’s essential for development.
