So incredibly sad...

[DeepIron]

This will help alot of people who think that they're selfish put themselves in a proper perspective.

I know stories such as this one cause me to think and rethink my own faith and moral guides. My wife and I are very close, what we consider "soul mates" and now that we've crossed over the 50 yard line of life, decisions like the one made in the news story have more relevance.

Could I end her suffering at the cost of her life? I hope I never have to make the choice...

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

We need to build memory chips & embedd them into the brains of ALZ patients with basic memory programmed, in the chip is stored images of the patients identiy and identy of others like family members, friends etc,. then whenever the patient meets one the image & name will trigger her real memory. She/He will never forget the basics so to say. Then later on when we figure it out we move to the heavy stuff like the chips replaces the sick part of the brain. Your not going to cure ALZ so lets instead replace the sick area of the brain with a Chip!

We have the technology learning new things everyday our scientist can figure this out


"Ok beam me up Scotty"

You forget that memory is more than hard fact-oriented information. It is Sentiment. Mood. Atmopshere. A network of attached attitudes. Judgings. Considerations. Smells. sensations. Colours. Lights. Sounds. If that is missing, and does not come to life so intensely that it does not form my own emotions and reactions, and make me feel love and hate, I could call any person "Dad" - and still would see him as a stranger, and would give that person the feeling of seeing in him nothing more than a stranger.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Skybird

You forget that memory is more than hard fact-oriented information. It is Sentiment. Mood. Atmosphere. A network of attached attitudes. Judgments. Considerations. Smells. sensations. Colours. Lights. Sounds. If that is missing, and does not come to life so intensely that it does not form my own emotions and reactions, and make me feel love and hate, I could call any person "Dad" - and still would see him as a stranger, and would give that person the feeling of seeing in him nothing more than a stranger.

Indeed. You know of the stroke patients who lose their brain's connection between
visual processing and emotion?
Upon seeing someone they have known all their life, they do not get a emotional
response. They react by claiming the person they see is not their wife(etc), but a
impost er who looks exactly like their wife. Likewise their homes are just houses that
look like their homes, but are not.
This isn't a problem if they talk to their friends on the phone without seeing them.

Memory, like all experience, is unified only in its point of view, not within it's self.




btw SB, I have not forgotten to reply to your pm, I am just doing a little reading first.

[TteFAboB]

Originally Posted by DeepIron

I know stories such as this one cause me to think and rethink my own faith and moral guides. My wife and I are very close, what we consider "soul mates" and now that we've crossed over the 50 yard line of life, decisions like the one made in the news story have more relevance.

Could I end her suffering at the cost of her life? I hope I never have to make the choice...

As long as it's her suffering and not uniquely yours...

[DeepIron]

As long as it's her suffering and not uniquely yours...

Well, I imagine that's the rub... And I don't think it would be possible to separate the two entirely. When you love and care so deeply for another, their pain is your pain too...