I was just talking with someone about a physcology experiment they were doing. They are having to ask children about different hypothetical situations. One of these questions was along the lines of 'If you replace the brain in a human body with the brain, of say, a monkey, what are you left with? A human, a monkey, or a completely new entity?'

Quite an interesting point I think. Anyone got any thoughts?

Well I guess it depends on what you think makes up a person, like what makes them them, what is their unique essence that if they lost it they wouldn't be them anymore. Is it their brain, their body, something else outside their body, like a soul, or a combination of these.

I don't believe that there is a soul that is independent of the body, I think the brain is everything that makes up a being - it's where you think, you feel, you dream. But I also think that the body makes a difference. Like if my brain was put in the body of someone else, I would feel differently about myself according to what that body was like. Like I'm short, so if my brain was put in a tall person's body I would feel like a tall person, so I would be different to who I am now.

So I think it would be a new entity, mostly whatever the brain was before the switch, but with noticible changes as well.

You must end up with something comletely new. You've killed off both the monkey and the human to make this thing, it can't be either of them.

You would get a very stupid but very entertaining human.Cmon a monkey in a human body,the laughs would never stop.This experiment has been done succesfully before.I know because I have had to work with the resulting hybrids before.
Sorry,not feeling very scientific today.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by huma:
You would get a very stupid but very entertaining human.Cmon a monkey in a human body,the laughs would never stop.This experiment has been done succesfully before.I know because I have had to work with the resulting hybrids before.
Sorry,not feeling very scientific today.<hr></blockquote>

Hm. This isn't the kind of question to put to a skilled brain surgeon with a radical turn of mind, obviously.

A monkey in a man's body...

Would you get Liam Gallagher?

Because I monkey could do different things with a human body, you would have a new thing altogether. The new thing couldnt talk properly, do math etc. but it couldnt swing by its tail like a monkey could either.

<font color="gold"> U would have the classical slapstick artist. IE. You would have Rowan Atkinson (sp?). ie.Mr. Bean.
Or possibly u would have Billy Connolly,but he isnt slapstick- hes parody. </font>