Neuroscientists Transfer "Memories" from One Snail to Another: A Christian Perspective on Engrams

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Let’s discuss Dr. Rana’s latest post on RTB. Any comments?

https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/the-cells-design/read/the-cells-design/2018/09/26/neuroscientists-transfer-memories-from-one-snail-to-another-a-christian-perspective-on-engrams

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First question, is do we really need a Christian perspective on transferring snail memories?

Second, can souls be transferred?
This was supposed to be an attempted at humor, but then I realized it’s kind of interesting.

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Obviously, not everyone will see a need for such a perspective. For others, the answer to your first question is in your second question. Such research raises questions about how souls work, a topic Christians (and other faith traditions and schools of thought) have traditionally had a perspective on, necessary or otherwise.

This Christian’s perspective says ‘yes’ although perhaps with some care on what is meant. The hope of the resurrection is that one’s soul can be transferred to a new creation–I would say mediated by a new body. I wouldn’t expect that my soul could be transferred to a body that is already mediating someone else’s body, Trading Places style. I suppose if I had to go into more detail about why, it’s because I imagine that mediating a soul has physical consequences that cannot be readily ‘reset’ to accommodate a new soul.

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@AndyWalsh that is all good and fine, but the “memories” transfered here are not neurological memories. Sounds more like an equivocation in the referenced article.

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Question: How do they know they’ve transfered memories? Not like they can ask snails what they remember.

Not trying to dispute anything, just an honest question.

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That was a much more serious reply than I expected. :slight_smile:

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These snails can be trained to react to certain stimulus. In this study they transferred the stimulus response to untrained snails.

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Gotcha. Thanks.

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Well, yes, there is also the question of what this observation actually tells us. And whether there is an equivalent RNA-mediated mechanism in humans. But I was really just trying to respond to Dan’s questions.

I’m curious why you say they aren’t neurological memories when the RNA was extracted from neural tissue. Granted, they are obviously not mediated by the connection network of neurons and synapses. Nevertheless, neurological seems like a reasonable adjective, at least in a broad sense.

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I’m great* at serious answers to casual questions, and vice versa.

*other adjectives are available

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