The Science Of Old Brains In Young Bodies...

[Spacescifi]

Brain transplants are not a thing other than in scifi and horror movies as far as I know... likely because of the questionable ethics (somebody is going to die unless your tech is so good you can do brain in a jar stuff).

 

However the following scenario is a wee bit different and ultimately more ideal.

 

Scenario: Scifi gravity generators do not exist on starships. That leaves a finite number of options.

1. Persons/aliens who spend years in space have bodies adapted to it.

2. Persons not adapted rely on 2 ship tethering rotation for gravity.

3.  Reset Pods: You enter and your body resets to a past saved state in time when you walked in and saved it (preferably a time you were healthy and strong). The only thing that does not reset is your brain, so you keep your aged brain so that you retain your memories.

 

Main Questions:

 

What effects if... if any, would having a brain older than the rest of the body have?

In theory one could use the Reset pod to attempt to live forever... problem is the older the brain becomes I think sooner or later it will begin to rot and memories long before that... making a person a mere invalid waiting to die despite having a younger body.

I do not know how much mileage one can expect to get out of their brain... but like they say, use it or lose it. 100-200 years? I dunno.

I would like to think that a younger body could help make repairs to the the older brain but I simply do not know.

So never ending education would help in keeping the brain sharp for longer periods.

Thoughts?

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

https://mindmatters.ai/2022/04/what-would-head-or-partial-brain-transplants-do-to-consciousness/

[Nuke]

i think there is a doctor out there who thinks he can make it work, if he can get over the ethics. this requires a lot of improbable things to happen at once. 

you need a patient with severe body damage with a functional brain with a very terminal prognosis or a very poor quality of life (the guy from 'johnny got his gun' comes to mind). 

you need a brain dead donor body. the body would need to be in otherwise good health and the brain decidedly so damaged that nobody is in there. someone like terry schiavo.

both candidates would need to be biologically compatible. bloodtype, etc. 

obviously one is a work of fiction and the other resulted in a major legal case. to avoid that, both individuals (should you find the candidates simultaneously) would have to either have a living will or a next of kin who is ok with the procedure. the donor would probibly need to have a dnr and a living will donating their body to science. you may even have to go as far as opting into the procedure before becoming brain damaged. the living brain would be the easier part as they have the most to gain, as non-intervention would result in either death or very poor quality of life, and being okayed by next of kin would probibly be sufficient. 

then the doctor would need to make their case before some kind of ethics board. also you would probibly need to get special permission from a judge or other government offitial to make it legal. i suspect the leagal team to be as large as the surgical team. this could take a long time, which increases the possibility of of one or both of the patients dyeing or degenerating, rendering the procedure non-viable. 

the number of things that all have to happen at once to make this possible will make it extremely unlikely. and developing the procedure to do so also has very little long term value, as you will get very few cases where this is an option. the waiting list for heart transplants are pretty long, i can imagine waiting for a donor body being a lifetime affair. and the potential for this becoming subject of abuse is very high. imagine a wealthy politician periodically having their brain transplanted into a new body secretly such that they can stay in power eternally and essentially become an invisible tyrant. or people simply being murdered for their bodies. a rich individual may pay some young person a million dollars for their body, give them until they are 30 to enjoy their life and at the end of it must submit themselves for a head cleansing. the possibilities are terrifying. makes me want to watch 'get out' again.

[Gargamel]

John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” covers this nicely with the transfer of consciousness into “new” bodies. 

[steve9728]

Are you looking for Space Marine? https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Space_Marines#Implantation_of_Astartes_Organs

(just kidding hahaha)