No brain transplant

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Perhaps all life stories are unique, personal itineraries are all different. Perhaps. Bodies are all similar, 200 different types of cells , organs all equal, equal, not similar. A lung is like any other lung, a liver like any other liver, an eye like any other eye, except for the color of the iris. They may be substituted, as long as we don’t get near the brain. Each cell has in its nucleus a copy of the animal genetic code, the DNA, the instructions to reproduce another identical animal. So where the difference among creatures of the same species lie? In the brains certainly, in the minds. There are 1OO billions cells in the brain, one neuron may be defective, one may miss, synapses may change, ties between neurons. Ties of cooperation, of organization. If something changes in the ties, the synapses, consequences may be dramatic. Memories are all different, and, before memories, instincts, that is the wiring of behavior. So the difference between animals (and men) is to be found here: in the brain and in the mind. Luckily there will never be transplants of brains, souls will never be disposed of, substituted. Of coursed they may be suppressed, destroyed, but this means someone, is killed: no fundamental repair may be made here. Perhaps it’s not a chance that while all other cells have some predetermined life spans, and some cells last less of one day, neurons last all you life.

Agreed

I hate to burst your bubble, but I vaguely recall reading somewhere that neurons aren't as long-lived as we previously thought. If I find a link I'll post it here.

I hope they never do brain transplants but I suspect that somewhere there are scientists working on that possibility It seems to me that nothing is sacred these days. The phrase 'playing God' comes to mind here.

Do you think it is possible to kill a soul? I'm not sure about that. I would like to think that souls are immortal and a spark remains, whatever happens in a life, and that even badly damaged ones may be nursed back to full flame by enough love, care and understanding. Always the optimist, I know.

From some source in the web. "In general, most of your neurons are born before you are two years old. After that age, only a very few specific types of neurons continue to be made in any appreciable numbers. Thus, in most cases, the neurons you have at age two have to last the rest of your life. The neurons that control your hand movements, for example, at age two are the very same cells that control your hands at age 102. Along the way, perhaps some of the neurons in the circuits have died, and that may be part of the reason why people are less coordinated at old ages, but the active living neurons may be over 100 years old.
The same would be true in even longer living species like the galapagos tortoise which can live to be over 150 years old."

No, I am relatively assured to say that brain transplants will never be possible. If some mad surgeons thought that they are possible, that would mean that they need one.

About "brain trasnspant" (BBC news service):

The arguments against head and brain transplants were outlined by Dr Stephen Rose, director of brain and behavioural research at the Open University.

He said: "This is medical technology run completely mad and out of all proportion to what's needed.

"It's entirely misleading to suggest that a head transplant or a brain transplant is actually really still connected in anything except in terms of blood stream to the body to which it has been transplanted.

"It's not controlling or relating to that body in any other sort of way."

He added: "It's scientifically misleading, technically irrelevant and scientifically irrelevant, and apart from anything else a grotesque breach of any ethical consideration."

"It's a mystification to call it either a head transplant or a brain transplant.

"All you're doing is keeping a severed head alive in terms of the circulation from another animal. It's not connected in any nervous sense."

The issue of who someone who had received a head transplant would "be" is extremely complicated, said Professor Rose.

"Your person is largely embodied but not entirely in your brain".