How many parts from a pig before a human is no longer human?

[beowulf]

Double pig kidney transplant successfully performed in brain-dead patient.

I guess this could be a solution to the lack of kidneys for transplant. PETA won't like it! And I still wonder if down the road this will cause more viruses to jump the human/animal barrier.

The kidneys follow the previous heart transplant from the same genetically modified pigs

In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig

Click to read more...

 

[Habsrule]

I’m all for it and the science with it. A humans life is way more valuable than an animals.

 

[alko]

Brain is important. If you will have a human brain, you are still human.

 

[beowulf]

Brain is important. If you will have a human brain, you are still human.

Problem is I see people that don't have a human brain all the time or they sure as hell don't seem to.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Point of reference for this particular philosophical problem:

Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia

Brain is important. If you will have a human brain, you are still human.

What I find interesting here is that we accord human beings a special status when it comes to this sort of thing, because of our conception of a soul. I think most people would look at a human brain in a pig's body as being fundamentally different than a dog's brain in a pig's body. The latter is exactly that, simply a dog's brain operating a different set of appendages than normal. Whereas we think of human consciousness as having its own unique value, independent of the body and independent of the brain itself.

Naturally, things get interesting when we start to question whether our idea of human vs animal consciousness actually has any validity... whether perhaps there's more going on in the dog's soul than we realize. Or... less going on in our own than we're led to believe.

 

[beowulf]

Point of reference for this particular philosophical problem:

Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia



What I find interesting here is that we accord human beings a special status when it comes to this sort of thing, because of our conception of a soul. I think most people would look at a human brain in a pig's body as being fundamentally different than a dog's brain in a pig's body. The latter is exactly that, simply a dog's brain operating a different set of appendages than normal. Whereas we think of human consciousness as having its own unique value, independent of the body and independent of the brain itself.

Naturally, things get interesting when we start to question whether our idea of human vs animal consciousness actually has any validity... whether perhaps there's more going on in the dog's soul than we realize. Or... less going on in our own than we're led to believe.

I do no the Ship of theseus ahh the fun of having a degree in Anthro lol. These days people use the same idea for cars.

As for the idea of animals and souls and consciousness etc. I think we also often care more and are less likely to seem them as simply animals species that are seen as smarter, that play like whale species or primates. etc. Then there is the ideas brought up in the books and Netflix series Altered Carbon. Will we reach a day where a person consciousness can be moved into a new body? What about into the body of an animal, Tekashi's sister put the consciousness of an enemy into a snake. during the first season as punishment for example.

 

[Hippasus]

For the thread topic, I agree with alko's assertion that the brain is necessary and sufficient for human identity to be preserved.

Regarding the Ship of Theseus problem, I believe the unity and identity of an object or individual must be bestowed upon by a particular thinking and conscious individual. The object or individual must be given a sense, whose value can be seen in a public, linguistic community. So the ship could be the reconstruction of the ship from the decayed parts for a particular individual, or it could be the restored version of the ship for another individual. Consciousness and intentionality on the part of the thinking individual are paramount to the notion of identity of an object or individual because language must be owned through the thought of the thinker prior to its being publicly available as a certain sense or definition of an object or individual.

 

[Super Cake]

Problem is I see people that don't have a human brain all the time or they sure as hell don't seem to.

Me too.

 

[beowulf]

First guy to get a genetically modified pigs heart died after about 2 months Man given genetically modified pig heart dies

 

[beowulf]

Well that ain't good. A Pig Virus May Have Killed First Recipient of Transplanted Pig Heart

Now, his surgeon and others think that porcine cytomegalovirus likely played a role, according to reporting originally from MIT Technology Review. It’s a mixed finding with implications for the future of cross-species transplants, called xenotransplantation. On one hand, transplanting an infected organ should’ve been easily avoided and prompts further ethical concerns about an already fraught procedure. But it’s also possible that, without the virus present, Bennet could’ve survived even longer with his new heart.

 

[ForsbergForever]

I think when you swap hands and/or feet with hooves, that crosses a certain threshold of man-beast separation.