In article <36 at decameron.win-uk.net> beaumont at decameron.win-uk.net (Andrew Beaumont) writes:
> Does anyone have any thoughts about what might happen if you could
> *entirely* isolate a brain from any sensory input? This is purely
> hypothetical of course, as it would be impossible to test, but what
> I'm getting at is the inherent stability of the neural system
> deprived of sensory throughput.
In terms of psychological stability, there's a large body of evidence
from human sensory deprivation that the isolated conscious brain is
not very stable. The deprivation in this case is pretty severe for
vision and hearing, and the majority of patients find the experience
quite disturbing. Some have sensorimotor coordination difficulties
afterwards.
Dan Fain
Caltech
