Science fiction enthusiasts have often suggested that a time will come when one’s consciousness after death can be stored somewhere to continue its life, but obviously it takes more than storage to create life. Nevertheless, on storage, the current-day version of this is to write a book or create a piece of art with one’s name attached to it. If the work has a social impact, one will be guaranteed celebrity after death. One of my mentors, the late Professor Peter H. Schiller of MIT, used to mention in his lectures (to undergraduates) that the point of doing science is to become famous (whether in one’s lifetime or after death was never specified, but knowing Peter he would have preferred the former which typically requires getting a Nobel prize).
The ultimate neurophysiological engram is in the cerebellum, as mediated by the synapses onto the Purkinje neurons (Gallistel et al. 2022). The inputs to this circuit can be manipulated with direct electrical stimulation devoid of any telencephalon to create lasting memories in mammals, but the memories will lack the sensory/declarative richness provided by an intact neocortex (Tehovnik, Hasanbegović, Chen 2024). Since all conscious, declarative experience is stored in the telencephalon whose memory capacity in humans has been estimated to be 1.6 x 10^14 bits [or 2 ^(1.6 x 10^14) possibilities, Tehovnik, Hasanbegović, Chen 2024], this means it is conceivable that a telencephalon possessing the experience of another individual could be transplanted onto the cerebellar circuitry of someone who has undergone severe telencephalic damage. Two pieces of evidence support this idea. First, Stephen Hawking who had motor neuron disease (i.e., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) could use a muscle twitch to deliver his lectures and contribute to scientific exchange since his telencephalon was intact so a computer could act as his cerebellum (De Lange 2011; Denman et al. 1997; Tehovnik, Patel, Tolias et al. 2021).
Second, a groundbreaking study was conducted by Prsa, Galiñanes et al. (2017). In this study electrical stimulation of the somatosensory cortex was used to condition individual neurons in the motor cortex using a ‘minimal’ brain-machine-interface paradigm. The only part of the preparation that was not under artificial control was the delivery of the reward, which could have been done by activation of the subcortical reward circuits of the forebrain (Olds and Milner 1954). This minimalist model proves that associations are made within the telencephalon at the single cell level, as—of course—already suspected by Hebb (1949, 1961, 1968). But unlike the minimalist circuit of the cerebellum (Gallistel et al. 2022), which under normal circumstances has access to the motor system via a rate code to drive the muscles, the telencephalon normally operates according to a conscious, declarative code given its massive innervation from all the senses and its enhancement of the sensory experience, as exemplified by the telencephalic visual system of primates containing neurons that encode color, motion, orientation, shape, texture, and depth (Schiller and Tehovnik 2015; Tehovnik, Hassanbegović, Chen 2024; Tehovnik, Patel, Tolias et al. 2021).
In short, we believe a time may come when a telencephalic module (representing all the conscious, declarative experiences of a lifetime) may be transplantable onto a subcortical cerebellar circuitry to continue one’s consciousness. However, the recovery of function will be imperfect: putting Pelé’s telencephalon onto Einstein’s cerebellum (and body) will not make for a world-class footballer; as well, we will learn at an instant the importance of all the subconscious motor routines stored in the donor’s cerebellum (and body). Sigmond Freud would have something to say about this.
Read my research on the Significance and functioning of pscyhical cortex
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