[extropy-chat] Re: Tommy (Was: Consciousness is a process in multi-dimensional time!)

[Adrian Tymes]

--- ben <benboc at lineone.net> wrote:
> Then there's the big problem - reconnecting them all.

Ah, well.  It is, at least, conceivable to someday actually run
that experiment, and thus take this out of the realm of pure
theory.

> Anyway, how could you tell whether
> the 
> animal's behaviour afterwards was mainly due to the period of time
> with 
> no inputs or to the procedure used to reconnect its nerves?

Multiple mice, disconnected for different lengths of time and
reconnected using the same procedure.  A *brief* dip into sensory
deprivation does not drive one mad, so madness after a brief
disconnect could be ascribed to the reconnection procedure.  No
such madness after a short break, but loss of memory after a
longer one, would lead to the conclusion that sensory input is
required sooner or later.