Questions tagged [brain]
For questions dealing with the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord.
211
questions
1
vote
2
answers
119
views
What would a billion years feel to an immortal human or alien? [closed]
Let’s say human lifespan could be extended indefinitely and we could live for billions of years. We also figured out Neurocybernetics and more efficient data storage to augment our memory storage ...
17
votes
18
answers
5k
views
What would be a way to make uploading a mind into a computer an actual transfer instead of just making a copy?
I want to create a story about mind uploading, but I am completely convinced that even if you could transfer the contents of your brain to a computer emulation and then run it, it will always be a ...
8
votes
6
answers
4k
views
How are custom organs controlled by the brain?
In various sci fi settings you'll often see soldiers that have been modified beyond their baseline human level. Sometimes they are genetically grown this way, but other times they're modified as ...
3
votes
5
answers
319
views
How would a creatures brain anatomy evolve to avoid brain damage?
I’m trying to create a horned creature that uses its head to head-butt much like a ram, but I’m curious about what kind of evolutionary trait would need to come about to greatly reduce the chance for ...
4
votes
1
answer
383
views
Symbiotic brain [closed]
I like to take mythological humanoid creatures and reimagine them in multiple species of primates. For instance, wendigos are just skinny-but-strong gigantopithecus that wear bones/skull of their prey....
2
votes
2
answers
379
views
Feasibility of a convergent neural code across species?
I've got a sort of "mind-reading" system involving interpretation of electric fields/impulses in the brain, basically an advanced BCI (brain-computer interface), but the key point of this ...
7
votes
7
answers
2k
views
How can robots that eat people to take their consciousness deal with eating multiple people?
Picture this: An AI has taken over the world with the directive "keep humans alive while trying to maximize both their happiness and efficiency of resource utilization." Unfortunately, it ...
1
vote
2
answers
83
views
Can technology that prompts or inhibits neuron firing be able to add/alter brain pathways and behavior?
Imagine I had a bunch of little molecules or electrodes or chips or something of the sort, which were outfitted with the ability to attach to brain cells, receive specific electric signal/field ...
2
votes
3
answers
256
views
Would a genetically-inserted “memory” be present in all neurons? Or just specific neurons?
So a hypothetical concept I’ve been playing with lately involves the “RNA memory transfer/storage” hypothesis, recently notably demonstrated in slugs a few years back which made a few headlines. The ...
3
votes
5
answers
1k
views
This drug can rewire the brain and “insta-teach”. How fast can I make it work?
I’ve got a nice new technique that, to put it simply, uses a sort of drug to target neurons, pump out more receptors and/or transmitters, and alter connectivity among brain cells, allowing the brain’s ...
0
votes
2
answers
141
views
How could a brain survival system work?
Suppose that the technology to re-grow bodies exists but either for technical or ethical reasons creating a digital copy of the brain that can be uploaded is not possible. How could you create an ...
23
votes
16
answers
15k
views
Can too much data cause brain failure?
A brain is sort of like a computer. It stores information, has multiple processes, and can compute and calculate. I have learned in computer science intro about a program that used to be popular for ...
3
votes
4
answers
701
views
What would be required to allow a human brain to function for thousands of years?
Could a human brain be kept functioning (thinking, alive, etc.) for thousands of years by use of some sort of machine or technology by the machine preserving the brain? What would such a machine have ...
14
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Brain download: how to avoid the multiple copies problem?
In a context where downloading the brain of a person has or is about to become possible, there is a problem looming at the horizon: once there is a copy, there is the chance of getting multiple copies....
1
vote
1
answer
102
views
How to download the mind once it has been uploaded [closed]
So, continuing along the basis of this earlier question: Justifying why mind uploading destroys the brain, these aspiring immortals now have a full computer emulation of their subject’s brain. (Big ...
14
votes
16
answers
5k
views
Justifying why mind uploading destroys the brain
So, in the relatively-far future, humans, in their endless quest for immortality, develop a form of mind uploading. This involves scanning the brain, cell by cell, and creating an electronic model of ...
8
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Would a brain transplant suffer immunorejection if the new body was cloned from the original?
So, having rejected mind uploading in their quest for immortality, the people of my worldbuilding project now seek to develop brain transplanting.
The main problem is immunorejection; if you simply ...
0
votes
4
answers
131
views
Amazon drones controlled by magic, how to control as many as possible with your brain given low technology level but runic alternative to coding [closed]
My research:
In the real world the technology to read and interpret the human brain has been arround for almost a century now and the idea of controlling devices with your brain has been around for ...
-3
votes
5
answers
198
views
Objectively most efficient way to increase focus?
If resistance is how long you can go doing physically exausting stuff before you die or get overtraining fever
then focus is the analogue to magic, your ability to perform magically exhausting stuff ...
0
votes
4
answers
135
views
What is the most plausible way for a neuralchip to be invented in a post-apocalyptic society?
I'm creating a RPG game set in 2058, after a parallel history scenario where the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis turned hot, and civilization underwent full scale nuclear war.
The game is set in the People'...
1
vote
2
answers
153
views
Can my iron neurons work like a biological quantum computer? [closed]
I decided to describe the evolution of scientifically plausible alien creatures and thought about it and decided to make sure that their neurons contained a large amount of elemental iron, which ...
7
votes
3
answers
242
views
What mechanism for the transmission of signals between neurons can be faster than our sodium-potassium?
I decided to describe the evolution of scientifically plausible alien creatures and thought about how alien neurons can transmit signals to each other and is it possible in theory some mechanism that ...
-1
votes
1
answer
70
views
Virtual reality via neural stimulation [closed]
I just learned that scientists are able to stimulate certain regions of a person's brain to make them feel certain emotions or move parts of their body.
I was wondering if it would be possible to ...
3
votes
1
answer
120
views
Physiological consequences of being a brain in a jar plugged into a robot body [duplicate]
In an alterante universe where Nazi Germany conquered the world, an unfortunate soul has ended up like Cliff Steele from Doom Patrol; his brain has been removed from its original body by a mad nazi ...
-1
votes
1
answer
96
views
Quantitying religious concept [closed]
Once upon a time, there were people on a planet far away who believed that our galaxy was a brain. Each star would be a neuron. In the absence of wormholes and other ways to get around the speed of ...
1
vote
2
answers
144
views
What would the recovery period for a five year coma look like? [closed]
So, I've been kicking around a sort-of "return from another world" idea for a bit now. Basically, the MC gets the crap kicked out of him and ends up in a deep coma with very little brain ...
3
votes
2
answers
225
views
Physical consequences of being a brain in a jar plugged into a robot body [closed]
Some unfortunate soul has ended up like Cliff Steele from Doom Patrol; his brain has been removed from its original body, suspended in a vat of life-sustaining liquid, and wired up to a new, robotic ...
3
votes
2
answers
206
views
Sensory Extension Overwhelming? [closed]
Amplifying the sensibility and spectrum of your senses, and even adding new senses altogether, in order to perceive the most information from the environment is a common theme in my futuristic setting,...
4
votes
2
answers
134
views
How would the human brain aid a human computer interface/implant in solving complex problems in realtime/dynamic uses [closed]
Hooking up a computer to the human brain or somehow connecting the brain to a computer is nothing new in the realm of sci fi literature. But say you want to merge the human brain and a computer ...
3
votes
2
answers
358
views
programing genetic memory (or; the hard way to get your kids to clean their room.)
Is genetic memory in higher life forms real? if so can, in theory, an organism be programed for a specific behavior or set of skills? Ie: if genetic memory is a mechanism that does exist, at what ...
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
A person has composite memories from countless pasts - how would you detect this with modern medical equipment?
So in this scenario our character is just a regular man in his 30's. Multiverses exist, and our character exists in countless other universes, each variant of himself having different life experiences....
4
votes
3
answers
931
views
How quickly can a disembodied human brain space travel and be fine?
In my current worldbuilding project, humans travel through space by putting their brains into advanced, miniature vehicles that supply the brain with the bare-minimum chemicals, electricity, etc, and ...
2
votes
1
answer
134
views
Regenerating brain could get rewired differently after getting damaged?
So, the protagonist of the story I'm developing is not a normal human, she was basically a guinea pig for illegal genetic experiments when this whole CRISPR thing was still a novelty(AKA "now&...
-4
votes
1
answer
81
views
Information necessary to simulate a brain virtually?
In the world i'm developing it's already possible to periodically scan your brain so you can keep a backup in case of you dying (people have rejuvenating treatments but they can still die of unnatural ...
2
votes
3
answers
157
views
Hearing effects of shifted time perception.(Bullet-Time) [closed]
Edit: It has come to my attention that "Critical Flicker Frequency" only applies to vision, but the perception of time of animals is measured by this method and i didn't know how to phrase ...
8
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Idea for a more "efficient" brain?
So if my incredibly basic understanding of how brains across animal species work is that the brain is compartmentalised into a bunch of different sectors that handle things like sight, language, fight ...
16
votes
10
answers
4k
views
Is mind downloading to a human brain possible?
If we assume that the human mind can be uploaded to a storage device could that mind be transferred back to a human brain?
Upload is defined as copying the experiences, skills, emotional tenor, and ...
2
votes
2
answers
89
views
How long would it take for evolution to create creatures with same body but different brain of humans?
In a story I am writing, I want to have a creature that is physically very similar to humans, yet has a different brain (e.g. smaller size and smoother). How many generations would it take for ...
0
votes
1
answer
107
views
Can this mind control parasite work? [closed]
I want to create a hard science parasite, this parasite consists of a symbiosis of a slime mold and neurons, it enters the host and branches by attaching to the organism. Could my organism control a ...
8
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Can a brain in a jar be killed or have a reduced lifespan from psychological trauma alone?
I have an original world, Hell, who I credit H. P. Lovecraft for the inspiration. I am not asking a question about any of Lovecraft's published worlds.
Inspired by The Whisperer in Darkness I have ...
3
votes
2
answers
158
views
Post-mortem brain digitization of the future: HDD backup?
Far in the future, can there be some kind of mechanism where we can slice through a waxed brain and image every synapse, copy the neural map into a computer and find memories and personality traits ...
9
votes
7
answers
4k
views
How much would a giant brain pay to make you its slave?
In my world, there is a giant brain that possesses a large amount (but not a majority) of the world's neurons. The problem is, it doesn't have a body, so it can't move and it has to pay other ...
39
votes
16
answers
7k
views
How can a gigantic creature combat neural lag?
For the purposes of the question, it doesn't really matter if the creature's a continent-sized amoeba or a particularly large kaiju. Speed of thought is relatively painfully slow in organic creatures, ...
4
votes
4
answers
177
views
data crystal ready, please insert the crystal inside your brain to continue. Wait! but where?
How to get smarter? easy! poke 2 holes in your brain and build a computer around the holes, the computer reads data from some usbs and sends the information to your brain, remove the usb and you also ...
9
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Do you need a new brain to see new colors?
Humans can see 3 colors, sometimes we can see more one color at the same time, this creates
7 variations of colors and a few million different shades of those same 7 colors.
blue, red, green = mix ...
3
votes
2
answers
101
views
Focus mode side effects
Premise :
The brain is expensive to maintain, 20% of your food expenses go to your brain so it doesn't rot and die of hunger, just to maintain an idle brain. Focusing on something burns way more ...
0
votes
3
answers
244
views
How can a hive mind be prevented from learning new information? [closed]
Entities from the spiritual realm must incarnate into the mortal world in order to communicate with humanity. This is done through the use of avatars, which are humanoid shells containing the soul of ...
1
vote
1
answer
372
views
If the blindfold on a healthy old man that was never removed since birth is taken down, would the man recognize what he saw? [closed]
I know our brain somehow managed to upright the inverted images our eyes sees, also there's tons of optical illusions out there that are based on what we knew and experienced. Then if those so called ...
2
votes
5
answers
134
views
What tests might someone do to assess possible brain damage from time travel? [closed]
I have a character who travels in time, but after making major jumps (like 100 years forward), she begins experiencing side effects—first nose bleeds, but the symptoms begin to increase to things like ...
2
votes
2
answers
132
views
Brain-Controlling Bacteria
As a Star Trek fan, I’ve been fascinated about the concept of the Borg and how they have used nanotechnology to assimilate every valuable species. They not only incorporate their technology into their ...