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It seems interesting from the perspective of the customer, but the really interesting thing is that if this succeeds, they will have access to brain imaging dat
by doorbumper 9y ago
It seems interesting from the perspective of the customer, but the really interesting thing is that if this succeeds, they will have access to brain imaging data that no one else has. You can't normally get such detailed scans of a human brain, because it requires the human to die. It's a business model that allows them to accelerate the pace of research without the human rights violations that come from human experimentation. The real value in this company is in what research arises from the data they gather, while being funded by people paying to donate their brains to research. It's a diabolical everybody wins situation.
- mulmen 9y agoIt's unclear to me how the euthanized brain donors "win" in the absence of proof that memories can be recovered.
- vokep 9y agoThey certainly don't lose. They are all to be patients who are going soon anyways, who opt for the process.
- Spivak 9y agoThey're going to die anyway and get to contribute to scientific progress and get the best chance possible today for immortality.
- mulmen 9y agoThey could contribute to scientific progress by donating the money to a research university. Depending on your concept of immortality donating sperm or eggs seems to have a higher chance of success.
- doorbumper 9y agoIt's not a guaranteed win, no. However, if they are at the point where they wish to be euthanized then their outlook is grim. However, even a minuscule chance is better than zero chance, correct? In addition, by donating their brain structure they're directly fueling the research needed to improve that chance.
- ggggtez 9y agoThey aren't scanning the brains. They are just plasticizing them. The electron microscope scan was just to demo that the plasticizing actually worked, but it required cutting up the brain into slices. That isn't part of the procedure as far as I can tell.
- doorbumper 9y agoMy mistake then. That's unfortunate, and less interesting then.