Giddiest of ups to all who joined us for 
What did we get into in episode 69 ? In spite of the innuendo, wink wink nudge nudge, we got from some listeners we kept it pretty clean... pretty clean, lol.
We start with discussing augmentation of the human condition, simulating consciousness. While hacking the human condition may sound absurd it has been on the 'to do' list for quite some time.
There have been numerous experiments attempting to create chips and implants which would serve as 'upgrades' to the brain giving us greater abilities than we are given naturally through our genetic structure.
Reference to experiments where 'brain cells in a dish' perform tasks such as flying a plane in a simulator. These cells seem to express particular traits, such as preferred direction of flying, distance from ground, specific pitch,roll &yaw of aircraft, etc.
To some this indicates that there may be 'consciousness' involved, there are a number of experiments in this field which dig into what we can achieve.... and maybe some things we should not try to achieve.
But where is consciousness? how can we get to it ? weigh it ? measure it ? this is something which has baffled scientists since the dawn of our existence. The heart, mind, heart, stomach and anything you could imagine has been pointed to as where our consciousness resides.
this was something which we hoped to gain some more answers to as we evolved though medical marvels such as head transplants. This concept has been around for decades and while only very limited in any form of success it seemed as there may be some answers soon to come...
When it cam time to consider this kind of radical surgery for human patients it was, and for some still is, considered lunacy. However, for those who are living with conditions which produce no quality of life it was hope for their future.
Valery Spiridonov was one such person, the build up was years in the making with numerous interviews with surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero, TED talks, etc. Ultimately Valery Spiridonov backed out of the surgery, so the questions still remain. Full Story available here
This also brings into consideration the concept of 'Cellular Memory'
Cellular Memory: Is a parallel hypothesis to BM positing that memories can be stored outside the brain in all cells. The idea that non-brain tissues can have memories is believed by some who have received organ transplants, though this is considered impossible.
Source
While this concept is well placed in the area of pseudoscience, with many questioning the people performing the studies and their bias, for those people experiencing the phenomena its is quite real.
Again we lean on the political and dogmatic nature of the sciences which discourage appropriate investigation of particular phenomena which may be seen as 'paranormal' or taboo (psychedelic studies), etc.
If you have found any of these topics interesting click the link Coffee and Philosophy Ep.69 to hear the recording and check the schedule for Coffee and Philosophy to see if you can make the live show so you can interact and add to the conversation.