oh, ive heard of things like this. it constantly pumps blood, hence the no pulse. strange to thing that having a pulse is just a side effect of heart contraction, and in no way necessary for life. kick ass!

flynn23 wrote:
] ] A new type of pump to help failing hearts will undergo
] ] clinical trials in autumn 2004 in the UK. Its design
] ]
] ] is intended to solve the problems of mechanical failure
] ] and blood clotting that have bedevilled artificial hearts
] ] and pumps since they were invented.
] ]
] ] The pump also has a curious side effect: people implanted
] ] with the device have no pulse.
]
] weird.

fractal wrote:
] oh, ive heard of things like this. it constantly pumps blood,
] hence the no pulse. strange to thing that having a pulse is
] just a side effect of heart contraction, and in no way
] necessary for life. kick ass!

or is it?

There's something to be said for those psychosomatic impacts that the body has on itself. Things like salivation, blushing, heart beat, hearing your own blood rush in your ears... they make us human and everything that we experience is what ultimately shapes our consciousness. Will people without a heart beat feel compelled to pound a drum? Make love in a crescendo? See red in times of anger?

flynn23 wrote:
] fractal wrote:
] ] oh, ive heard of things like this. it constantly pumps
] blood,
] ] hence the no pulse. strange to thing that having a pulse is
]
] ] just a side effect of heart contraction, and in no way
] ] necessary for life. kick ass!
]
] or is it?
]
] There's something to be said for those psychosomatic impacts
] that the body has on itself. Things like salivation, blushing,
] heart beat, hearing your own blood rush in your ears... they
] make us human and everything that we experience is what
] ultimately shapes our consciousness. Will people without a
] heart beat feel compelled to pound a drum? Make love in a
] crescendo? See red in times of anger?

Most of what you are describing would still be present, I think. The rate of blood flow would still increase as the heart beats faster. And the thumping in the chest would still be present. You just can't hear it. Pressure in the arteries would not pulse, but it would rise and fall normally due to stimulation. I don't think that this and the loss of hearing your heartbeat would have much effect on your physiology. :shrug:

Jello wrote:
] flynn23 wrote:
] ] fractal wrote:
] ] ] oh, ive heard of things like this. it constantly pumps
] ] blood,
] ] ] hence the no pulse. strange to thing that having a pulse
] is
] ]
] ] ] just a side effect of heart contraction, and in no way
] ] ] necessary for life. kick ass!
] ]
] ] or is it?
] ]
] ] There's something to be said for those psychosomatic impacts
]
] ] that the body has on itself. Things like salivation,
] blushing,
] ] heart beat, hearing your own blood rush in your ears... they
]
] ] make us human and everything that we experience is what
] ] ultimately shapes our consciousness. Will people without a
] ] heart beat feel compelled to pound a drum? Make love in a
] ] crescendo? See red in times of anger?
]
] Most of what you are describing would still be present, I
] think. The rate of blood flow would still increase as the
] heart beats faster. And the thumping in the chest would still
] be present. You just can't hear it. Pressure in the arteries
] would not pulse, but it would rise and fall normally due to
] stimulation. I don't think that this and the loss of hearing
] your heartbeat would have much effect on your physiology.
] :shrug:

How would there be thumping in your chest with no heartbeat? Even using a dynamic pressure pump would not be enough to generate any rhythmic pulsing. It's not so much that I'm against this (or have any stance really), it's just that I wonder the impact on the human being with it. It's easy to say that the reason why certain behaviors, expressions, and innovations even came about was because of our innate idiosyncracies. ie, a heart beating inside us in this case. Would Poe have written the Tell Tale Heart if he had one of these things installed?

But I wonder also about the physical effects. When you watch blood flow through arteries and veins, it has a very specific pattern as pressure is applied in this motion. It's very analog. Replacing that with a (no doubt) digital controlled pump - it could have physical effects. We might say, from a scientific point of view, that it's meaningless. But then again, we also thought the same about CD quality audio being perceived by our ears. It's true: people prefer 96KHz sound over 44KHz sound. And they certainly prefer analog over any digital.