yelyos

If we took a part of a human brain (say, the occipital lobe) and replaced it with a machine that provided the same outputs given the same inputs to the rest of the brain, would the human be inanimate or animate? What if more than half the brain was replaced? What if the entire brain was replaced with computers that produced the same outputs and inputs? Would that be animate? If it would be, then how complex would a computer have to be to be an animate being instead of an inanimate object?

Dominus Paradoxum

I think it would definately remain conscious even if the whole brain were replaced. If the function is the same, then what does it matter what the paticular substrate is.

yelyos

It would simply be an advanced computer at that point. How simple would it have to be before it ceased to be animate and became an inanimate object?

Psychic

I am really interested in brain science, but i strongly assure that your question is way ahead of its time, very premature. cause what we've gathered about how our brains work is still incapable of explaining the tiniest manifestations of our consciousness. so predicting the resluts of your postualted replacement, would be like stumbling in the dark with grossly formulated speculations.

Jet Grind

It's impossible to answer your question with our current knowledge of cognitive science.