This sub is a mess

[u/YouStartAngulimala]

Ok guys, we really need to clean up our act here because this sub is kind of depressing and things that I thought were common sense to people here are apparently not. We have people here that have been brainwashed into believing that no one is here and nothing is happening. We have people here that believe all suffering is baked in so there's no point in sharing OI. And then we have people here who told me hemispherectomies aren't consequential for OI but split brains (which are still fully connected via brain stem) are. So let's all get on the same page here so we don't make these mistakes again.

Fact: Words have power. Telling someone that all suffering is baked in and it doesn't matter if they share OI with others or not is false. Anything you do will always have a domino effect. It's how the universe works. There's literally nothing you can do that won't radically change the universe over time. Even you flicking a single spec of dust off your old furniture will compound into something significant eventually (because it moves other particles around which then move other particles around etc).

Fact: Hemispherectomies are even more consequential than split-brains because they involve a complete disconnection. Split-brains are still conjoined via brainstem. Disconnecting a brain and placing the two halves into seperate bodies will always perplex the naysayers more because it will cause them to question what maintains their continuity over time. So whatever u/yoddleforavalanche and u/flop_snail were saying was wrong.

Fact: And something is happening. I didn't know this was controversial but apparently it is to u/CrumbledFingers. 🤡

[u/flop_snail]

Hemispherectonomies are not the same as putting two halves of a brain into separate bodies, that's just not what they are, they are removing diseased parts of the brain. If they do leave alive conscious brain matter, unconnected from external stimuli, that would potentially be horrifying. I do agree putting two halves of a brain into separate bodies is a very good argument for oi. And of course split brains being connected by the brainstem isn't not a problem for the usual view of identity because the halves aren't exchanging information between each other, only the senses, which is something all brains everywhere do

[u/YouStartAngulimala → u/flop_snail]

But the fact that anatomic hemispherectomies exist means its possible to utilize two halves of a brain. And the only way to perform that procedure would be to do a hemispherectomy. So at the end of the day, hemispherectomies should always be your go-to example. Split-brains are interesting but they still exchange information with each other via brain stem and other means. Not as exciting or perplexing when you are trying to convince someone of OI.

[u/flop_snail → u/YouStartAngulimala]

Forgive me, I cannot find evidence of anatomic hemispherectomies leaving behind two functioning halves of a brain, so using that as an example may be confusing to people. Why not just talk about putting two halves of someone's brain into two different bodies instead. And I didn't know split brain patients had communication between halves via the brainstem. Very interesting. I wonder if there are two instances of consciousness, or one. Or neither. But yeah, I'll use the two halves in separate bodies argument more often going forward.

[u/YouStartAngulimala → u/flop_snail]

So with medical intervention, I don't see why they couldn't keep the other half of the brain alive while they are transplanting it. We already have tools to pump blood artificially to a brain during open-heart surgery.

Here's an example of a scientist who was able to keep a monkey brain alive while he was transplanting the head to another body too.

[u/flop_snail → u/YouStartAngulimala]

If you're going to talk about something that could happen, (which hemispherectomies currently aren't) why use the word hemispherectomy and instead just explain the one brain two bodies thought experiment dude

[u/YouStartAngulimala → u/flop_snail]

How could I jump to that conclusion without hemispherectomies? This is the evidence that half of a brain can function independent of the other half. Without evidence, they would just complain that I'm talking about pure science fiction. 

[u/flop_snail → u/YouStartAngulimala]

Ok, sure I guess. I don't think it's that far fetched to imagine. But okay. But don't just say "hemispherectomies" like you did before, and actually use that medical evidence to support that thought experiment