Alzabo elixir not so far-fetched?

Gerry Quinn13 Jul 2013, 16:55

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation - Gerry Quinn

Jerry Friedman14 Jul 2013, 03:30

↳ in reply to Gerry Quinn

2 quoted lines

From: Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com>

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation

Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one lesson. That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. Jerry Friedman

Andy Robertson14 Jul 2013, 03:49

↳ in reply to Jerry Friedman

I heard tell it wus a duff experiment. THe worms who were fed chopped worms were on an ideal worm diet and learned faster for that reason. The controls had an inferior diet. hartshorn

13 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

On 14/07/2013 04:30, Jerry Friedman wrote: From: Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation

Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one lesson. That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. Jerry Friedman _______________________________________________

David Stockhoff14 Jul 2013, 05:29

↳ in reply to Jerry Friedman

11 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

On 7/13/2013 11:30 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote: From: Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation

Planaria that had been trained to overcome their instinctive avoidance of bright lights and open spaces were decapitated. After regenerating their heads, they could be trained to do the same things in only one lesson. That doesn't have much to do with gaining someone's memories by eating part of them. Jerry Friedman

I assume the connection would be that memories traditionally considered to be stored on the brain were in this case stored elsewhere in the body. That seems to be a key Wolfean conceit and one presumably necessary for the alzabo effect, unless the animal always eats the brain before it mimics its dead prey. However, there may be other ways to explain this behavior in planaria.

entonio at gmail.com14 Jul 2013, 11:23

↳ in reply to Gerry Quinn

Planarians can hardly be said to have brains. And they aren't worms like the ones we find in our yards. They barely have any internal structure. I don't think anything very useful can be learned from them in what concerns the way the bodies of more complex animals work. No dia 13/07/2013, ?s 17:55, "Gerry Quinn" <gerry at bindweed.com> escreveu:

4 quoted lines

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/10/4510580/planarian-worm-regrows-memories-after-decapitation - Gerry Quinn _______________________________________________

Gerry Quinn14 Jul 2013, 14:06

↳ in reply to David Stockhoff

From: David Stockhoff

1 quoted line

I assume the connection would be that memories traditionally considered to be stored on the brain were in this case stored elsewhere in the body. That seems to be a key Wolfean conceit and one presumably necessary for the alzabo effect, unless the animal always eats the brain before it mimics its dead prey. However, there may be other ways to explain this behavior in planaria.

Exactly. You can't predict alien super-science without joining the dots a bit! - Gerry Quinn