What Are Your Best Mind-Boggling Questions?

[DaveC426913]

You drew the conclusion, not I.

You said:

Which leads to another interesting question - cells divide by binary fission so I see no immediate reason why an entire human couldn't do the same and produce two where there is now one using this method. (To add to the mix, I seem to recall a study which indicated memory can be passed on by eating part of an individual - the study was with lower order species but a behavior was trained, then the trained individual was fed to the untrained which then exhibited the behavior of the trained individual.) Of course there are technical difficulties in a case like this, but assuming it could be done,

The implication is pretty hard to interpret any other way:
"I see no reason why humans couldn't divide by fission..."
"... lower order species had their trained behavior fed to others untrained...etc"
"of course there are technical difficulties in a case like this, but assuming it could be done"

So, what exactly does it refer to?Oh. OK, it turns out that is what you meant:

But as we study memory is there any law of physics violated by the concept that memory can be transferred from one individual to another?

Why bother telling me I jumped to a conclusion if it was the correct conclusion?

Anyway, addressing the question you asked:

is there any law of physics violated by the concept that memory can be transferred from one individual to another?

Individual what? Human? If you don't want to people to misinterpret you, you must be explicit with your terms.

No it can't happen. The amount of brain matter required to be considered a discrete memory in a higher order life form is far too large to be absorbed through the wall of the digestive tract, or make it intact through the circulatory system or past the blood-brain barrier. And after all that, the brain does not build its neuronal net by attaching stray neuronal fragments of material to itself.

 

[netgypsy]

Here's another one that probably has been answered but I haven't come across it. If a bird is raised from egg by a different species with no contact with any of its own species, will it produce sound like the adopted species, like it's native species, or somewhere between?

Additional relevant info - birds of the same species in an isolated location develop "accents" particular to that population.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Here's another one that probably has been answered but I haven't come across it. If a bird is raised from egg by a different species with no contact with any of its own species, will it produce sound like the adopted species, like it's native species, or somewhere between?

If it's a mockingbird, I guess it will emulate the songs of other birds as usual. Some species of Cuckoo lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. I assume the offspring produce sound like a Cuckoo.

 

[BobG]

Knowing how many Trekkies are out there I'm most interested in conclusions that have been reached on this question. Assuming one could be "beamed up" like in "Beam me up Scotty", obviously the entire pattern of atoms in your body is recorded, disassembled, then reassembled in that precise pattern. the question is, if it happened to you, when you were reassembled, would you still be on the inside looking out?

And one could take this one step further. If you were accidentally reassembled twice, which one would you be inside looking out of? One, none or both??

Assuming the answer is none, who would be inside the newly reassembled being?? Physically speaking would it be alive? If not why not?

And I'm interested in this problem from the point of view of physics, not philosophy or religion.

Actually, I'm not interested in any of this.

What I want to know is why I can't receive faxes just because my fax is out of paper? Why should that affect whether my friend can beam me his term paper?

And if I can't receive faxes when I'm out of paper, does that mean I have to have the ingredients on hand in order for a person to be beamed up to my mother ship? What happens if the Carbon dispenser runs dry before I've been completely reassembled?

 

[Pete54]

What is the human condition?

 

[Pete54]

How is it that humans are capable of loving selfless and cooperative behaviour and hold these as the ideals of life but when it comes to living our lives seem to be completely unable to live with these ideals??

 

[netgypsy]

Last question first - transferring memory from one individual to another - first of all it would be a higher order species with a real brain. Second - the transfer of memory does not have to be done by removing it from one and moving it to another. It can be done by recreating what the memory is composed of in one, in another similar individual (preferable a clone or DNA identical so the outcome isn't muddied), and since higher order species have the building blocks already present in their body to build memory it would be a matter of building the memory from the pattern in the donor individual. A bit like ghosting a hard drive. You would not have to remove it from the donor. Merely build the same in the recipient.

 

[BobG]

How is it that humans are capable of loving selfless and cooperative behaviour and hold these as the ideals of life but when it comes to living our lives seem to be completely unable to live with these ideals??

Perhaps because...

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."

 

[netgypsy]

Pete54 - no we don't always fail and we don't always succeed. Environment is a factor because certain environments can trigger certain types of behavior but remember we are hardwired as a normal human to care for our "extended family" and to find those who are not part of our extended family, a threat so people raised in a very restricted environment where this threat from outsiders is constantly a part of their life are going to be more aggressive to more people than others who have a very large extended family from birth with pretty much no feeling of threat from outsiders in their daily life. and the economically advantaged can afford to be more benevolent than those who don't even have enough food or shelter. We're a fairly predictable species overall. It's the individual who'll get you every time by deviating from the norm when you least expect it.

 

[checkitagain]

And I never indicated that feeding the brains of humans
to other humans would impart knowledge from the
source brain to the receptor brain.

A Brain Bug from "Starship Troopers" can get info by ingesting
brain matter from a human.

Spoiler: Please do not click on this link if you don't want to see
a scene from "Starship Troopers."


Some bad language
Graphic violence

 

[Pete54]

Thanks netgypsy

 

[Pete54]

Has anyone seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA&list=PL848F2368C90DDC3D&index=1&feature=plpp_video

This guy is a bit interesting.