First Human Head Transplant Planned for 2017

[apples]

Where are they going to find a healthy body? To my knowledge most people with healthy bodies don't die...

gunshot victims, etc

aint hard to find the right people when you have time, money, and connections

[Zandalarian Paladin]

That man has a lot of courage. A lot.

Probably a bit crazy, too. And I'm not sure I approve the ethical of it. But he's consenting and it's actually helping science.

What a world we live in.

[Felya]

Where are they going to find a healthy body? To my knowledge most people with healthy bodies don't die...

Probebly something like this:

[Piglord]

They argue that we can't even repair a spinal cord injury within one person, so its absurd to think we can "repair" (via connecting) the completely severed spinal cords of two different people.

This is what I wonder too. Doctors can't even reliably reattach single nerve strands.

[apples]

I'm guessing they'll try to find a brain dead patient that has no next of kin. If not, they could attempt to give a very generous amount of money to family members, in exchange for their loved ones body, but I imagine it will be rather hard to find people that will take such a deal. Though, there's all kinds of people out there, so maybe not...

no real reason to make any deals

theres like, a lot of headshot victims, etc per day in america

and some of them are even donors

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This is what I wonder too. Doctors can't even reliably reattach single nerve strands.

reattaching nerves requires a surgery which will most likely paralyze someone permanently

reattaching the head to another body, ironically doesnt have this problem since you dont have to go into the spinal cord

[Rhaide]

During one the the interviews he (the surgeon) talked about this and the possible vanish of religions as a result. If the person experience changes around him during the brain dead state that would prove that the afterlife is a fictional product of the human mind created to escape the inevitable reality of death.

This is the article in Italian. With a lot of useless images and Ads

I always love when people claim that the possible inferences that could be drawn from a potentially successful experiment are going to change the minds of over half of the world, irregardless of whether those minds are correct or not.

Sounds totally reasonable and scientific.

[Kokolums]

I have an interesting workaround to remain "young" for your entire life.

First of all, science has developed a primitive technique to allow a paralyzed man to control his own hand using brain implants and electrical impulses as shown in this video:



So here's the plan:

1. Develop this technology to the point where you can totally control a living body by remote thoughts.
2. You then develop the ability the clone people a new body.
3. Now people can grow themselves an 18-year old version of themselves and "drive that around" as it were. All of their senses would be connected to the remote body such that they can't tell the difference. They effectively are in that body.
4. If the clone gets fat, or starts losing its hair, or whatever, you just throw it in the trash and unbox a fresh copy of yourself.
5. This would allow people to stay 18 years old for their entire lives. At age 30, 40, 60, 80, they are still driving around in their 18 year old copy.
6. You cannot be murdered or die in an accident. The cloned copy gets killed but your consciousness was safe at a remote location. So you just unbox a fresh copy.

[Creotor]

I guess we'll learn more about all that from this surgery. All the existing information on the subject suggests that this likely won't be a complete success.. But plenty could be learned from it. The subject volunteered, and he's dying from a crippling degenerative condition. Worst case scenario he dies or is severely crippled; which is in his near future anyway. So it's hard to apply "muh ethics" to this one. I doubt it will be successful, but at least it will provide us with more insight on the subject.

This.

It's exceedingly unlikely to work, from what I can tell, but the guy volunteered because he doesn't want to live out the meager remainder of his life in a perpetually worsening state that's already terribly shit at this point. The operation, meanwhile, will surely bring forth some significant new data regardless of the outcome.

I'm thinking he'll probably die either during or within the first few weeks after the operation. There's always hope, though.

- - - Updated - - -

I have an interesting workaround to remain "young" for your entire life.

So here's the plan:

1. Develop this technology to the point where you can totally control a living body by remote thoughts.
2. You then develop the ability the clone people a new body.
3. Now people can grow themselves an 18-year old version of themselves and "drive that around" as it were. All of their senses would be connected to the remote body such that they can't tell the difference. They effectively are in that body.
4. If the clone gets fat, or starts losing its hair, or whatever, you just throw it in the trash and unbox a fresh copy of yourself.
5. This would allow people to stay 18 years old for their entire lives. At age 30, 40, 60, 80, they are still driving around in their 18 year old copy.
6. You cannot be murdered or die in an accident. The cloned copy gets killed but your consciousness was safe at a remote location. So you just unbox a fresh copy.

Nobel prize winner right here.

Only need to figure out how to store/transfer consciousness.

[Deleted]

That volunteer guy has little to lose and much to gain.
The religious shitstorm that will follow the surgery success though...

What a time to be alive indeed.

[apples]

This.

It's exceedingly unlikely to work, from what I can tell, but the guy volunteered because he doesn't want to live out the meager remainder of his life in a perpetually worsening state that's already terribly shit at this point. The operation, meanwhile, will surely bring forth some significant new data regardless of the outcome.

I'm thinking he'll probably die either during or within the first few weeks after the operation. There's always hope, though.

if he dies before the minimum 3-4 coma time then the operation got fkd up and no data will be learned

whats most likely to happen is either life support keeps him alive until they decide to pull the plug cuse he aint waking up

or

he wakes up and then itll take who knows how long to see how quickly/slowly the body heals/doesnt

attempting a procedure like this isnt far fetched medically, people have been doin it since the 50s as someones already said

it was very morally ambiguous up until 3-4? years ago when we had the first successful nerve reattachment. as well, nerve intermediaries like the vid of the guy moving his hand also shore up the moral side as its becoming more and more likely that a person will have a higher quality of life with a risky surgery than they will with degeneration.

the best part of this, imo, is that this isnt far fetched. medical science has been gradually inching towards this goal for the last 10 years and now here we are. the big hope is that this is still just another step forward, rather than this getting bogged down by social obstructionism like stem cells, or the like

[judgementofantonidas]

can only hope that this does work and that they don't botch it and take his life, for what his life is worth.

[Piglord]

reattaching nerves requires a surgery which will most likely paralyze someone permanently

reattaching the head to another body, ironically doesnt have this problem since you dont have to go into the spinal cord

Maybe I'm not understanding what you are saying, but I'm pretty sure they are going to have to reattach nerves somewhere in the spinal cord. The article even says, "Canavero's project does have supporters in the medical community, including Dr. Michael Sarr, professor emeritus of surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He said the procedure is very risky, but experiments show that reconnected spinal cord nerves may actually function."

I know it's possible to successfully reattach nerves, but it's not even close to 100% reproducible.

[Orby]

That's some Frankenstein stuff right there

[Creotor]

if he dies before the minimum 3-4 coma time then the operation got fkd up and no data will be learned

whats most likely to happen is either life support keeps him alive until they decide to pull the plug cuse he aint waking up

or

he wakes up and then itll take who knows how long to see how quickly/slowly the body heals/doesnt

attempting a procedure like this isnt far fetched medically, people have been doin it since the 50s as someones already said

it was very morally ambiguous up until 3-4? years ago when we had the first successful nerve reattachment. as well, nerve intermediaries like the vid of the guy moving his hand also shore up the moral side as its becoming more and more likely that a person will have a higher quality of life with a risky surgery than they will with degeneration.

the best part of this, imo, is that this isnt far fetched. medical science has been gradually inching towards this goal for the last 10 years and now here we are. the big hope is that this is still just another step forward, rather than this getting bogged down by social obstructionism like stem cells, or the like

A failed attempt at an operation that hasn't been done before is data all by itself. At the very least, as far as giving some clues as to what not to do in the future.

I don't think it's far-fetched; at the current level of medical/tech development, now seems like a good time to start. However, it'll be the first attempt ever to perform this on a human. It's very complex and the likelihood of failure is high.

[Deleted]

Maybe I'm not understanding what you are saying, but I'm pretty sure they are going to have to reattach nerves somewhere in the spinal cord. The article even says, "Canavero's project does have supporters in the medical community, including Dr. Michael Sarr, professor emeritus of surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He said the procedure is very risky, but experiments show that reconnected spinal cord nerves may actually function."

I know it's possible to successfully reattach nerves, but it's not even close to 100% reproducible.

The likelihood is that successful future treatments for the type of injury you are thinking off will not be surgical alone. See http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/10Octobe...g-surgery.aspx for a very readable description of recent pioneering work.

[Deleted]

That man has a lot of courage. A lot.

Or loots of desperation, becuse his orginal body is critical ill, so he can not really lose, do nothing, he die, do a body transplatation he might live.

[Mazeari]

I'm sorry but if practiced head transplants on gorilla's have been very unsuccesfull. What makes him think it would work on humans.

[Sierra85]

I'm sorry but if practiced head transplants on gorilla's have been very unsuccesfull. What makes him think it would work on humans.

gorillas are not humans and have different rejection enzymes. also, if you woke up with your head on a gorilla body you'd probably suicide too.

[Deleted]

The religious shitstorm that will follow the surgery success though...

Why? Heart transplants is rutin and the religions have been pragmatic and gone from the old perception that the soul living in the heart to that the soul living in the brain. This is not more controversial then a Heart transplants.

[ro9ue]

Really curious if this will work.