Human Robot

[All Seeing Eye]

I was wondering with all this new technology being developed that allows limbs to move just by simple thought, would it be a future possibility to build state of the art humanoid robots and rather than develop Artificial Intelligence just use a human brain and implant the human brain into the 'Android'? and basically just connect it up and switch it on?

I know it sounds horrible but I was wondering if it might be possible? It is similar I guess to the whole robocop idea or Cybermen idea but it would be far more sophisticated, the robotic body would be state of the art as I said, capable of sending signals to perhaps a central hard drive which interprets all the data and 'informs' the brain of everything it needs to know.

If you were on your death bed and dieing and was offered to have your brain implanted into an Android body would you do it?
Also, would it be possible to grow a brain in a laboratory and implant the brain into an Android? would this 'baby brain' be capable of learning and developing into an intelligent human?

 

[Christopher]

Implanting a brain into a new body wouldn't be simple, because the brain isn't as separate from the body as we like to think. The brain is part of the entire nervous system which spreads throughout the body, and the interaction of brain and body help shape who we are. Even if there were some way to sever the brain from the rest of the nervous system -- the rest of itself, in a real sense -- and connect it to some analogous synthetic system, it would probably cause changes in the individual's personality and identity.

Constructing an android with a new-grown biological brain and nervous system of some sort might be possible. There's already AI research that involves combining neurons with computer chips. But whatever resulted would probably be different from a human because it would be in a different kind of body. Our bodies aren't just receptacles for our personalities, they help shape who we are.

 

[Meredith]

The most realistic depiction of this tech has got to be here: Ghost in the Shell


The main character is a "Brain in an Android Body" type and is far more subtle than Robocop or Cybermen.

The Major

Of course putting Human brains in robot bodies is a sin in the eyes of the church. It is an abomination unto the lord.

Spoiler: God's Position

Just Kidding, I think cyberization is a good idea.

 

[Arrqh]

Meredith said:
The most realistic depiction of this tech has got to be here: Ghost in the Shell

To clarify a bit (because I like talking about it ), the cyberbrains in GitS contain most of the human brain and brain stem but exclude the optic nerve and the spine and is a totally self contained unit... you can remove someone's cyberbrain and keep it in a box for a while and then stick it in a new body.

They never quite answered how the organic parts of the brain get fed nutrients and oxygen when not connected to a body, though

 

[Meredith]

Arrghman said:

Meredith said:
The most realistic depiction of this tech has got to be here: Ghost in the Shell

To clarify a bit (because I like talking about it ), the cyberbrains in GitS contain most of the human brain and brain stem but exclude the optic nerve and the spine and is a totally self contained unit... you can remove someone's cyberbrain and keep it in a box for a while and then stick it in a new body.

They never quite answered how the organic parts of the brain get fed nutrients and oxygen when not connected to a body, though

I thought they showed a case with a brain in it and it looked like there was a few tubes and wires attached to it. I would say as long as you can do the swap out in less than a minute there shouldn't be any organic brain damage, plus maybe full cyborgs use a special blood that has more O2 in it than blood or some such thing. I would think just a small nutrient/filtration system and a small pump is all you need to brain alive at least in the short term. Not sure how the lack of Hormones in a full cyborg would affect the operation of the brain. I guess that would make Robocop an eunuch and the Major menopausal, (No wonder the Robocops in Robocop 2 killed themselves.) Unless the cybernetic part of the brain can compensate for the difference by direct brain stimulation.

 

[JustAFriend]

You kiddies never watch old movies:

The Colossus of New York (1958) with Ross Martin (Wild, Wild West)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051484/

Trailer here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0


Jeremy Spensser, genius humanitarian, is killed in an accident just after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. His father William, a brilliant brain surgeon, works on the body in secret before burial; later revealing to his other son Henry that he has the brain on life support and hopes to encase it in a robot body! The resulting being is large, strong, and develops many strange powers. Initially it has Jeremy's gentle personality but this, too, begins to change, and a year later it decides to end its long seclusion... Unusual piano music score.

 

[FalTorPan]

JustAFriend said:
You kiddies never watch old movies:

The Colossus of New York (1958) with Ross Martin (Wild, Wild West)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051484/

Trailer here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...h&plindex=0


Jeremy Spensser, genius humanitarian, is killed in an accident just after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. His father William, a brilliant brain surgeon, works on the body in secret before burial; later revealing to his other son Henry that he has the brain on life support and hopes to encase it in a robot body! The resulting being is large, strong, and develops many strange powers. Initially it has Jeremy's gentle personality but this, too, begins to change, and a year later it decides to end its long seclusion... Unusual piano music score.

Don't forget They Saved Hitler's Brain.

Actually, do forget it. The movie sucked.