Can consciousness exist without any brain at all?

[LuckyR]

Did you even read the article? The rat had 93% of the cortical volume of a normal rat.

"At first glance, one assumes there is a significant loss of cortical volume based on the tissue representing the cortical mantle in the hindbrain of R222. However, the total cortical volume of R222 is only 7% less than age matched controls (see Fig. 1)."

So yes, driving 93% of a car is driving a car.

Are you certain that the rat had 97% of a brain?

Title of paper: Life without a brain: ...

The paper's introduction compares the case with that of humans that managed to live a normal life with merely 5-10% brain tissue. It doesn't mention a percentage of brain tissue that is missing but instead mentions that 'much of the cortex is missing'.

I didn't read much further, since I am not a specialist that could examine validity of a study. I merely intended to discuss the validity of the idea that it is 'dishonest' to publish such a study with the mention 'no brain' or 'without a brain' in the subject.

If you are correct, in that case I would agree that it could be considered a misleading title.

Yeah, someone was more interested in making a splash than being descriptive.

[Raymond]

Sometimes there will be news headlines about someone living with "no brain" but actually the person has 10% of a brain left or such, so in those cases the news headline is using hyperbole, if not being outright dishonest. This topic is not for discussing whether someone can be conscious with a very small and/or severely damaged brain. Rather, this topic is for discussing whether a person/creature can be conscious without any brain at all.

Please do not answer with a simple yes or no, but instead make sure to provide evidence and argument to backup your answer.

I'm convinced consciousness can't exist in other stuff than brains. It can't exists, as is mentioned oftenly, silicon based. Consciousness can't be constructed. Only evolve in an evolving body in an evolving surrounding, like a suitable rotating planet, facing the warmth of a star at day and the cold of the dark void at night periodically. The evolving lives move further and further away from thermal equilibrium. Dissipative structures oscillating between taking heat in and radiating it away. Again duality is seen like in so many aspects of life and the universe.

[Belindi]

'Consciousness' , like 'God' , is notoriously imprecise. The imprecision of 'consciousness' is why, in metaphysical discourse , 'experience' is the better word .

[SteveKlinko]

Sometimes there will be news headlines about someone living with "no brain" but actually the person has 10% of a brain left or such, so in those cases the news headline is using hyperbole, if not being outright dishonest. This topic is not for discussing whether someone can be conscious with a very small and/or severely damaged brain. Rather, this topic is for discussing whether a person/creature can be conscious without any brain at all.

Please do not answer with a simple yes or no, but instead make sure to provide evidence and argument to backup your answer.

From the view of Connectism (https://theintermind.com/#ConnectionPerspective), Consciousness is a Connection from a Conscious Mind to a Physical Mind (Brain). The Connection, as best that Science understands it, is done through the Cortex of the Brain. So, no Brain means no Connection which means no Consciousness for the Physical Brain and the whole Physical Body.

[The Beast]

Well said. However, Is the person alive? I don’t think a brain transplant is a possibility. However, it raises questions about the function of the brain. The body is alive… is it? In theory a brain-dead person has some capabilities. It seems that the cells of the body are sending messages but there is no response. Are the cells of the body feeling? Are the words in themselves or are they expressed? What exactly is no brain? Is there an anatomical component still receiving blood supply? Or is it only a theoretical thesis like consciousness in a computer?

[SteveKlinko]

Well said. However, Is the person alive? I don’t think a brain transplant is a possibility. However, it raises questions about the function of the brain. The body is alive… is it? In theory a brain-dead person has some capabilities. It seems that the cells of the body are sending messages but there is no response. Are the cells of the body feeling? Are the words in themselves or are they expressed? What exactly is no brain? Is there an anatomical component still receiving blood supply? Or is it only a theoretical thesis like consciousness in a computer?

Brain death is a vastly different situation than there being no Brain. Science cannot measure Consciousness yet so nobody really knows what's going on with such a person. The things that Science says they measure for Consciousness are really just Brain Functions that they try to Correlate with Consciousness.

[The Beast]

It was no-brainer. On the theoretical front I am more than 50% inclined to say that Consciousness has extra dimensions; that is, it connects to energy fields outside the brain. Moreover, this connection is unique in the order of one to one. If this is true then, it could be possible if, the dimension becomes accessible, to retrieve the signature the same way (dimensionally speaking) we access signatures of elements of the periodic table. Furthermore, gating and retrieval is a possibility. If there are mechanisms that allowed, then reincarnation may also be a possibility. This way brain may act as a retrieval engine. A Heaven is also possible with a collection of consciousness. More of a possibility are reservoirs of consciousness acting as a collective.

[SteveKlinko]

It was no-brainer. On the theoretical front I am more than 50% inclined to say that Consciousness has extra dimensions; that is, it connects to energy fields outside the brain. Moreover, this connection is unique in the order of one to one. If this is true then, it could be possible if, the dimension becomes accessible, to retrieve the signature the same way (dimensionally speaking) we access signatures of elements of the periodic table. Furthermore, gating and retrieval is a possibility. If there are mechanisms that allowed, then reincarnation may also be a possibility. This way brain may act as a retrieval engine. A Heaven is also possible with a collection of consciousness. More of a possibility are reservoirs of consciousness acting as a collective.

Yes, those are all possibilities because with regard to Consciousness everything is still on the table.

[The Beast]

Yes. The OP question is not specific. But, if I to say: can consciousness exist in a human body with no brain? then the word “correlate” and the answer is 95% no. The other 5% will decrease rapidly until all cells had died. DNA will continue in some form and the answer will never reach 100%. I will take the 95% in (x,y,z) to express the object human body and say no consciousness with 98% certainty.