Bringing back the dead (robot with animal brain).?

Question

Do you think it will be possible to bring back a dead person one day by transferring a persons brain into a robot just after their body stops functioning. Since they can build robots using animal brains now.

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/08/rodentguided_robot_rampage.html

Answer 1

Short answer: no.

Once brain tissue is dead, there's no known way to reactivate it.

And, there's a big difference between growing connections to a petri dish of neurons and actually connecting to the I/O on a brain that's already had a lifetime of experience sending/receiving information in particular ways.

Answer 2

It seems it would be easier to transfer the person's knowledge, or maybe even consciousness, to a computer before they die.  But this too is still in the realm of science fiction.

Answer 3

No.. DEAD is D-E-A-D.

Part of the defintion of death is that the brain dies.

Part of the problem is that nerve and brain cells are EXTREMLY difficult to grow or replace,  [Note how there is STILL no cure for spinal injuries like Chris Reeve (Superman)]  

So when the body dies, blood stops flowing to the brain, and the brain dies in about 3 minutes.  After that, most people are "not the same" even if they can get the heart started aagain.  

So even if surgeons were right "johny-on-the-spot" is is unlikely that they could move the brain into a mechanical device in quick enough time to avoid brain damage.

But worse, what about the person that is "in" that brain?  I know you hear stories all the time about athletes and such who have been in bad accidents, then it take them 6 months OR MORE to learn to walk again.  Learn to walk again?  Didn't they already know?  That's what brain damage does -- it damages the brain.  So you may have to learn all over again how to walk and talk and read and write . . . .

BUT . . . the big point is that they DID used to know how, so it is not learning, it is RE-learning.  So it is easier,

But what if you suddenly had to learn to use a mechanical device instead of your real legs? How long would it take you to learn to walk again?  This is not RE-learning, this would be learning for the first time, using equipment with which you are not familiar.  Same with arms and hands.  But what about a mechanical voice box, or electronic eyes, or electric ears? How long would it take you to learn to use that?

Actually, even if doctors COULD get the brain out in time, it is very probable that the "person" inside the brain would go completely absolutely crazy before they could learn to use the robot's equipment.

The brain would probably end up in a "catatonic" state, shut down and unable to work even though all the things its needs are working correctly.

Answer 4

So far, only neurons are used. And neurons are similar to electronics, only more efficient.

So far, the actual connections between the human brain and the rest of the body are not understood. If they were, then beheading could be reversed by simply reattaching the head and brain to the spinal cord.