Lab-Grown Minibrains Start Making 'Brain Waves'

[Valmy]

In this case, it would be weirder - as the 'brain' grown in a vat would have literally no sensory inputs or outputs at all. What would it even think of?

Cogito, ergo sum?  I guess it would need to develop a language first.

How would it do that, with no-one to talk to? I wonder if a potential for language is somehow inbuilt in our very brain cells.

I don't think it does, at least from what I remember from Helen Keller who lived without language for several years of her childhood.

[Maximus]

I'm fairly certain our capacity for language comes from the extremely complex structure of our brains and is not inherent in the cells. Same goes for the capacity for thought and for processing sensory input. A clump of neurons might be able to feel pain, but that's it. Even then, it doesn't have any context for the pain, so it's meaningless. It doesn't have any way to respond, so it can't learn to avoid the pain, etc.