Amongst the formidable complexities that would be involved in transplanting someone’s brain, lurks an enigmatic question – if it were yours, would ‘you’ go with your brain? Such questions have been examined by professor Fredrik Svenaeus, of Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden. The professor has a chapter in ‘The Body as Gift, Resource, and Commodity’, ( Södertörn Studies in Practical Knowledge 6, 2012) entitled ‘The Phenomenology of Organ Transplantation: How does the Malfunction and Change of Organs have Effects on Personal Identity’
“If I get a new brain I (at least possibly) become another person. In this sense, the brain is the only organ that cannot be donated; if you offer your brain to be transplanted into another body, you become a receiver, not a donor, of organs.”
But ultimately the professor reminds us that, at least until 2070 or so (when he predicts the first brain transplant might take place) we will just have to be patient for firm answers :
“To get one’s brain transplanted into a new body will probably be a different kind of personality change than going through an existential crisis. Maybe puberty, or pregnancy, could be helpful as comparisons when we consider what getting a brain transplant (getting your brain a new body) would be like, but these real-life examples will not get us very far. We simply have to wait for the event to take place to be able to answer the change-of-identity question.”
Also see: Previous related Improbable content
Brain transplants:the implications [1 of 3]
Brain transplants:the implications [2 of 3]
Brain transplants:the implications [3 of 3]
Coming soon: Brain transplants [5 of n]
Bonus: Related, in the sense of malfunctioning brain xplants …