EEG and/or fMRI? We’ve been able to “read” brain activity for quite a bit now. It doesn’t mean we can read thoughts, but we can most definitely tell which parts of the brain are active and know distinct patterns/states

Being brain dead is “being gone”. We can restart a stopped heart or bypass it altogether and keep the metabolic processes of the body going for a long time, but once the brain goes kaput, there’s no bringing it back.

Edit: I realize now it was a joke. Whoosh