[eternalny1]

> Of course we don't even know whether this sense of self is really purely attached to the brain. That brain is still connected to the rest of your body, and who knows what the body chemistry of the body donor will do to the new brain?

Imagine just one aspect of this. A thyroid disorder.

If the donor body was hyperthyroid, the head transplant would result in someone with the symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Angry, irritable, racing pulse, etc. If they had hypothyroidism, they would be depressed, lethargic, etc.

And that's just one organ in the body. It could radically alter the "person" who they are presuming lives only in the head.

[lisper]

An even more striking example: putting a male brain in a female body or vice versa.

[mannykannot]

A good point, though for some people, that would be a better fit than what nature and chance gave them.

The separation of cojoined twins is potentially even more drastic, especially if it could be accomplished in those whose self-aware consciousnesses are not entirely independent.

Everyone's entire body, brain included, is undergoing continual change, simply from aging if not from injury or disease, and the changes that are most challenging to the concept of self are those that affect the brain.

[mewpmewp2]

I don't think emotions or feelings define identity. You could cut your leg off and be in immense pain, doesn't mean your identity changed.

The brain is still the same old brain just responding to changed input with appropriate output.

[EMM_386]

PTSD?