No, and the headline is deliberately lying. But they will try, and try, and eventually do it to a human. This, and brain “transplants” are stupid and should not be allowed, but they will happen regardless.
“The researchers were prepared to intervene with the use of anesthetics and temperature-reduction to stop organized global electrical activity if it were to emerge,” Latham said. “Everyone agreed in advance that experiments involving revived global activity couldn’t go forward without clear ethical standards and institutional oversight mechanisms.”
...
There is an ethical imperative to use tools developed by the Brain Initiative to unravel mysteries of brain injuries and disease, said Christine Grady, chief of the Department of Bioethics at the NIH Clinical Center.
“It’s also our duty to work with researchers to thoughtfully and proactively navigate any potential ethical issues they may encounter as they open new frontiers in brain science,” she said.
These excerpts from the article - the first from mid-article and the last two paragraphs - indicate that the researchers concerns are mostly about the public relations “optics” surrounding the disclosure of their research, not any actual underlying moral dilemmas.
Bioethics and its supposed “experts” have yet to stop any important line of scientific or engineering research. That’s not their job. There job it to provide a check in the “due diligence” box when some annoying group of outsiders begin raising moral or religious objections to a particular line of scientific enquiry.
This, of course, is primarily a Western concern. In Russia and China, there are already medical researchers who have created (or are prepared to create) human babies that have been gene edited to have desired biological features for research purposes. While “harshly criticized” (in the case of the Chinese researcher), I have yet to read that he has been removed, jailed, charged, or punished in any effective way for his breach of the “bright line.” Even there, other than concerned talk at conferences, etc., it appears nothing is being done because it is all just intended to placate the old fashioned moral concerns of the ignorant and excitable masses.
But how does reviving a recently dead pig brain tie into gene editing babies? Human cloning. If you are going to clone a specific person, why not gene edit the clone to eliminate any gene-based disease or physiological limitations in the donor. Having perfected the body, it is now the ideal recepient for a transplanted head (cue the Italian doctor currently working this angle) or a brain directly. And, of course, doing that requires working out all the neurological angles of which, coincidentally, the research under discussion in the article constitutes the beginning
Of course, these are aged brains, so transplantation is only be an interim step until direct transfer of the brain’s contents into a new fresh brain could be perfected. Research into brain to computer interfaces is already underway. But such a transfer implies getting the organic brain to an appropriate level of development in order for it to receive the contents of an adult brain. So it may be necessary to research forced rapid physiological development. That could be masked as limb replacement research.
Or maybe not. The billionaire tycoons of Silicone Valley are also keenly pursuing research supporting download of human consciousness (with theirs being the first) into silicone-based hosts. So our robot overlords may not arrive from the stars. They might be homegrown.
It is just a matter of time, money, and the support of really smart, dedicated researchers who have been repeatedly assured by the “experts” that their efforts are “ethical” (for whatever that word will mean at that point.) and will benefit all of humanity (or atleast that portion of humanity that can afford it).
But that is in the future. I’m hungry. Is there a good patch of green succulent grass around here. Ahh. ZZzzzz.
P.S.: Sorry for the rant.