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Yes, the article is accurate. No, it tells us nothing new about thought and consciousness. They're trying to make it accessible, but are just confusing matters
by throwaway5752 13y ago
Yes, the article is accurate. No, it tells us nothing new about thought and consciousness.
They're trying to make it accessible, but are just confusing matters. This is no different than resuscitating an otherwise 'dead' person with CPR, just extending the period they can be resuscitated.
If your heart stops or you lose too much blood, oxygen stops making it to cells, including the brain. After long enough, cells die (irreveribly/structurally). If you induce hypothermia, the processes that lead to cell death are slowed down so doctors have longer to fix the problem that led to hypoxia.
"Brain dead" refers to the condition of the brain after massive cell death. Brain cells are most vulnerable to lack of oxygen. That's why so many people's brains die before blood flow/oxygen can be restored, but the rest of their bodies are left in a functional state.
- stefantalpalaru 13y ago> Yes, the article is accurate. It's not. A cooled down body is still alive. There's no such thing as a state "where people are not alive but not yet dead".
- dm2 13y agoSure there is. If your blood has been drained and there is no brain activity, then you are not alive, correct? And by today's standards most doctors would mark you as dead and ship you off to the morgue. The concept of death can be challenged because dead really means 100% unable to bring back to life. It's not possible to bring dead people back to life, so people who are not alive, but not 100% dead beyond the point of no return, still have a chance to be alive again. Basically there are two meanings of dead: "no neural activity" and "irreparable damage to the brain", if there is simply no neural activity but the brain is still physically intact, then you're in a pseudo-dead state.
- stefantalpalaru 13y agoWhat's the point of lumping a reversible state with an irreversible one under the same term?
- dm2 13y agoLanguages can evolve, but I personally had zero say in the multiple meaning of the word. What do you propose we call it? Pre-dead? Suspended?
- stefantalpalaru 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_death is the best we have but because it contains the word "death" it's far from perfect.