Re: Reparing brain damaged AIs

Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:

>	  The only nervous system cells that seem to self repair are
stem cells from
> zygotic tissues. 

Ummm.. yes and no. Any neural net is constantly changing biases and
connections while it's learning. This means that if relatively mild
trauma is induced, it is possible to get some degree of function back
under some circumstances.

For example, in 1981 I had E-II viral Encephalo-Meningitis. I was one of
4 survivors of that particular pandemic in Australia. All had neural
damage to some degree. I lost complete sensitivity in all my
extremities, plus some major damage to reflexes in my legs, and slight
aphasia due to damage in the speech section of the brain.

Not fun.

I had to go through the same routine as Hansen's disease victims, doing
a visual scan on my hands and feet for damage. I had to be extremely
careful when cooking, as I could easily (and once did) leave my hand on
a hotplate. The smell brought it to my attention before really bad
damage occurred. It was, however, both frightening and upsetting.

However... over 10 years or so, some degree of function has returned. I
can now not only feel temperature differences, but also pain and some
(diminished) tactile sensitivity, especially in my fingers. I appear to
have lost the reflexes in my feet permanently, but perhaps 40% of lost
functions have returned over the years. No noticeable improvement beyond
10 years after the event though.
 
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