This is the first entry into our new MySQL database. Here goes nothing!

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello world. It's me, Phil. And I Loooooooooove blogging!

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Phil has linked to and commented on several stories in the last couple of days that have a common theme:

• Brain Juice [electrical currents enhancing brain function]

• Ho Hum [monkey controlling a robot with its brain]

• The Brain Fix [electronic brain prosthesis]

• Brain tissue transplants

Even though most of these treatments would only be used on diseased or injured brains, some ethical issues must be considered.

If a patient has a stroke that damages a portion of her brain, will she remain the same person if she is treated with a brain prosthesis or brain tissue transplant?

Objectively there is little to argue about. If my family member has suffered a stroke and can't speak or take care of herself, and if a brain tissue transplant could reverse that, then the post-op person is more like the person I knew before the stroke.

But what is the subjective experience of the patient? Is her personhood violated by the treatment? Certainly the stoke or neurodegenerative disease violated the patient first. But there are many instances in medicine where doctors choose not to treat rather than risk additional harm.

This problem is akin to issues science fiction fans have discussed for years. If my memories and personality are copied into a computer or into another body, have I, personally, been moved? Am I live or Memorex?

Or if the "transporter" from Star Trek can take apart my atoms, transport them through space, and reassemble me perfectly on some alien world, is that still me? Maybe. But, what if - as Star Trek suggests - only the digital information of my pattern is transported. My actual atoms are left behind to replicate Hot Earl Grey tea or something. Is that still me?

I don't know, but I certainly understand Dr. McCoy's aversion to the transporter.

The ethical problem with brain prosthesis and tissue replacement is different from these fictional dilemmas only in degree. A brain prosthesis or tissue transplant might simply be thought of as an aid for the remaining brain, but it just as logically could be said to be "new brain." Where exactly does "self" reside? Does "self" remain in the damaged brain that the prosthesis or new tissue is aiding, or is it within the "new brain?" Could it be a both?

There is no easy answer to that. But I know that if I had a stroke and was told that the only way I could walk again or speak would be to undergo a such a procedure, I'm sure I'd agree to the treatment.

This seems to be the best solution to the problem. Our decisions have an impact on who we are anyway, so there seems little reason to question a patient's decision regarding such care - provided they are capable of making the decision.

Obviously someone will have to judge whether the patient is capable of understanding the treatment and making the decision. Should that be the doctor or the family? Its time to update my living will forms.

Posted by Stephen Gordon at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

See above. Comments are alive and well via TypePad registration.

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spent Sunday afternoon through last night on the road (business) and found not one spare minute in all that time for blogging. It was pretty intense. Denver to Chicago to Toronto to New York to DC and then back to Denver. An all-day training session in every city (two in DC). Every flight was delayed. Plus I somehow had to do my regular job in spite of the fact that I was delivering training. Moroever, each city offered a unique opportunity to check in on projects that I normally have access to only over the phone. So I couldn't pass that up.

It was quite a week.

Anyhow, I'm back now and will resume blogging (I know I'm way behind on publishing chapters of Stillness, plus we need to get a new Better All the Time going) but first I need to clean out 458 porn spam messages.

Nothing says "welcome home" quite like those.

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When we find bloggers that write quality future-related things we often return to them every carnival to see what they are writing about.

Here's our list of "usual suspects."

• Transterrestrial Musings

• Fight Aging!

• Dynamist Blog

• Winds of Change is not often about future-related stuff, but it's always good when you can find a post on-point.

• The Blinne Blog. He doesn't post much, but it's good when he does.

• Howard Lovy's Nanobot. Always good.

• FuturePundit

• Geekpress Is this a blog?

• Slashdot Not a blog, but good stuff.

• Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave

• Ortholog

• Hypotheses Non Fingo

• Semi-Random Ramblings

• Centerfield. This blog is mostly political, but he writes on the future occasionally.

• Responsible Nanotechnology

• Political Calculations

• Green Car Congress

• Curmudgeon's Corner

• Project Nothing

• JC's Blog

• Ideas in Progress

• Mike's Noise

• Andrian Bowyer's RepRap. We're keeping an eye on this guy and his self-replicating fab lab project. If this works, its going to be a big deal.

  Multiple Mentality

• It's not a blog, but we often find noteworthy material at Tech Central Station.

• I sometimes feel silly linking to Instapundit. Most people would have read him first, but we link because Glenn's good.

• Oh, and don't forget The Speculist! :-)

Posted by Stephen Gordon at 08:05 AM | Permalink

I don't know what's harder to believe — that these things make their way here (and somebody actually finds them), or that we're able to figure out so much about precisely where they came from.

The rock left the Moon no more than 340,000 years ago, carved out of the Imbrium Basin -- the right eye of the "Man in the Moon" -- by an asteroid impact. Lured by gravity, the fist-sized object arrived on Earth sometime within the past 9,700 years.

Gnos even thinks he might know the exact crater on the Moon from whence the rock came.

Reading this, I can't help but ponder the fact that that the planet we're on has also had it's share of meteor impacts over the years, including one that led to the end of the dinosaurs. What did we shoot out into space with those impacts? Just rocks? Is it possible that there are portions of tree trunks, dinosaur bones — maybe even a T. Rex carcass? — in orbit around the sun, just waiting for an eventual near encounter with one of the planets?

It's fun to consider.

Posted by Phil Bowermaster at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)