The line between brain and soul

[Doubleshadow]

Cool... Is there anything from their findings in particular that would be interesting to share here?

I'll see the article again this evening, I'll get the name of the study and the investgators.

A bit of an aside, but the word "unique" here made me consider the idea that two genetically identical human clones would still have their respective unique souls. A soul can't be cloned.

Agreed. Without going into what would most likely be politics, I am of the opinion that a clone would have a soul different than that of the donor of the DNA.

[kryptech]

Our spirit is the part of us which connects us to God, it is the 'real' part of us, who we truely are. It is our immortal self, the part which never dies.
Our Soul, is our mind. The part which is logical, is led by the 5 sences, calculates, and 'thinks' (I need to get from here to there... I shall do that by doing this...)

What you call the "spirit", I think I would call the "soul". And what you call the "soul", I'd label the "mind", although the two are definately closely connected. For improved clarity in our discussion, I'd previously posted definitions of spirit, soul, and mind from Webster's dictionary. As you can see, there exists from overlap in how people view these terms.

Spirit:
The intelligent or immaterial part of man as distinguished from the body || the animating or vital principle in living things || the moral nature of a man

Soul:
The immortal part of man, as distinguished from his body || the moral and emotional nature of man, as distinguished from his mind || the vital principle which moves and animates all life

I believe that regardless of how a human life is brought into this world, to actualy BE a human, they HAVE to have a spirit, because that is what seperates us from animals, the fact that God has breathed life into us.

I agree that all human beings require a spirit, or they would not be alive. I do, however, view the spirit as the animating force that God has given to living things, be they human or animal. In that case the fact that humans have souls that are eternal sets them apart from animals who don't have souls. That is my personal take on things.

Concerning the ethics of human cloning... I think there could be some rare cases in which it could be morally permissible, but overall I think it is an ethical minefield best left untrodden. Like you said, the potential for abuse is huge.

[Mithrandir]

the vessel of flesh, delicately holding the soul

Very poetic, I must say. You guys have really impressed me. No offense to either of you, but having TM and GotN involved in a discussion that doesn't degrade into name calling* is rather refreshing. While I have opinions on this matter (having done some work in AI myself), I think I'll keep them to myself. I don't want to throw any "mod weight" into your discussion.

* Not that I'm necessarily implying you guys are doing the name calling. Mostly, I'm implying that you tend to state your opinions from the stand point of one who is right, which comes across as arrogance and offends people some of the time.

[kryptech]

First off, sorry for the delay in replying. I've been a slacker.

I appreciate your heavy emphasis on using the Bible for defining your terms. I guess I had my own understanding of "spirit" and "soul" coming into this, which seemed to correspond to some of today's definitions. I know the Bible uses spirit quite a bit, but doesn't really use the world "soul" much. This past Sunday I had a great discussion with a brother at church concerning the nature of the spirit. His view is that the heart, mind, spirit, and soul are really all the same - that the Bible uses the term nearly interchangably. He believes that each word could have a slightly different emphasis (heart - more emotions and will, mind - more intellectual) but that they are basically the same. He mentioned some books on the matter so hopefully I can grab one tonight from the church library and give it a read.

God is an example of the worlds greatest code writer ever

Amen! When I am programming, I think it is cool to realize that God knows the optimal way of coding a procedure. If He designed the complicated animal instincts then surely Java and Visual Basic are elementary!

[kryptech]

It is entirely impossible to travel backwards in time, but you can move forwards in time if you want

Ah, but travelling back in time makes for better sci-fi shows. ^_^ Seriously though, it amazing how smoothly the universe operates. Even considering the effects of sin after the fall!

So pdgeorge, do you think it is possible to transfer the spirit and soul from a flesh and blood body to an artificial body? It has been discussed to some degree in this thread but I am curious as to your thoughts on the matter. I guess it depends on the view of how the spirit/soul and body are connected. And is the body too complicated to be able to replicate accurately enough to "house" a spirit/soul in a synthetic body?

Just curious on your take.

[Doubleshadow]

The article I mentioned a few posts back was removed from the bulletin board in the religious studies department. Honestly, they only change that thing once a semester and when I need to get the name of the authors, or even the title, it is not there.

However, I found a brief but very fascinating article concerning neurobiologists studying the brains of people who speak in tongues. Since that is a hot button topic across the denominations, I won't post the link. Anybody who wants to see, PM for it.

[kryptech]

Thanks for checking anyway... I think they call that phenomenon Murphey's Law.