[ExI] Medical power of attorney for cryonicsts

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2014 5:44 AM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Medical power of attorney for cryonicsts

 

Ben <bbenzai at yahoo.com> , 7/12/2014 12:20 PM:


>…So what is the point of all these ethics panels?  

 

This:

 

>…Moan, C. E., & Heath, R. G. (1972). Septal stimulation for the initiation of heterosexual behavior in a homosexual male. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 3(1), 23-30.

ABSTRACT A 24-year-old male, overt homosexual, repeatedly hospitalized for chronic suicidal depression and found to have temporal lobe epilepsy, underwent a program of septal stimulation which resulted in subjectively reported and behaviorally observed states of pleasure, euphoria, relaxation, confidence, and sexual motivation. These responses were subsequently used to initiate heterosexual arousal and behavior. The findings have important implications for the treatment of some psychological disorders.

 

>…Dr Robert Heath and his team at Tulane University did a series of experiments with deep brain stimulation in the limbic system of human patients in the 60s and 70s. In this case they put electrodes into the "pleasure areas" of a gay depressed epileptic drug user which perked him up remarkably, and then they hired a prostitute to have sex with him. Success! Anders Sandberg

 

 

You know what would happen: destitute straights would fake being suicidal gay, so that some wacky scientists would rig up a bunch of electrodes to the pleasure centers in the brain and bring in harlots to do tests on him.  HEY cool, where do I sign up for that?  {8^D

 

Here’s a thought experiment since we are on the topic of medical ethics in general.  Imagine all the people you know pretty well, that you talk to, including family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and online contacts, everybody.  If you had an ethics question that was making you crazy, who would you talk to?  Are there some better than others?  Of course.  Could you put them roughly in order from best consultant to worst, or at least form vague groups of people who are better, some worse, some perfectly useless?  I can.  So how did you do it?

 

OK then, get a group of about half a dozen or so who go into your group of best consultants, just pick your best ones.  There ya go, those consultants form your personal ethics panel.

 

So why shouldn’t hospitals have those?  

 

If my worst nightmare came to pass and I found myself running a hospital, I durn sure would form that.  Where would I get my people?  I suppose I would have to choose from applicants, and those applications would be heavy in people with degrees in medical ethics, ja?  That experiment tells me that medical ethics is a legitimate field of study and a legitimate degree, providing a service that I occasionally want and need.  

 

spike

 

 

 

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