body transplant

[jo_ann]

think we'll ever see the day? supposedly a doctor has been experimenting since the mid 70's
http://www.gettingit.com/article/134

the obvious problem with most spinal cord injuries is re-attaching the nerves in the spine without damage.. though I have read that you don't even have to re-attach them back to the same nerve, the body compensates for it (they did it in some rat experiment), it reprograms the brain to reroute the signals.. I think once nano-technology gets up to speed and we can get micro-precision robotic surgery, we could definetely see doctors transplanting your head/brain into a new body... I can live with a male face and a female body, how bout you?

[Pip]

Just curious where the spare bodies are going to come from when this Doctor starts his experiments.

Now, sometime back there was an Outer Limits show about cloned bodies that you could transfer your essense/soul into. So it's the same you in your mind, but completely different body. Science fiction becomes real life stuff all the time....

Pip

[Ophelia D'Void]

I haven't confirmed this, but I heard somewhere that there was a woman that was living for years as a paraplegic due to a mid back spinal break, and after they injected her with stem cells in the area, she was actually able to walk. Don't know where I heard this from though, so guess it's just the realm of rumor until then...

[Jesse69]

How will they cut your head off ? With a guillotine ? Oh no, I can't take that!

[jo_ann]

spare bodies will basically be clones without souls (living organisms living in a coma state), and since your brain is coming along for the ride, it doesn't matter if your transplanting to a body that's been in a coma for 20 years. the new movie out "the island" sorta plays on this, except the clones have to live as people, and when the rich people need parts from that clone, they tell the clone they won a prize to live on this secluded island, which is actually a trap to kill off the clone for body parts.

[nikky]

as a kid i used to always dream i could change bodies with a girl who may wish to change bodies with boy. if only we could find that person and of course do the surgery....but in a dream, everything is real.

[Jamie M]

Is it just me , or does this kind of thing actually scare the living C:censor: out of you ?

Clones living for years in a comatose state waiting to be killed so that another could take their body . Creating 'beings' without souls . Where should the line be drawn on this kind of thing ? Well that's beyond me , but it still scares the beegezers out of me

[kazeparker]

Nikky: I've felt the same way. I know there are girls out there who probably feel the same way, too.

When it comes to this, though, the most ethical way would be to find that person of the opposite gender to trade with, as it satisfies both parties. Creating a clone or taking a comatose body for the purposes of using its body as your own would raise a lot of opposition. Mainly because of the argument that a human clone right now would be a whole new person that just has another person's exact DNA, rather than a precice copy of a person (environmental factors play a large role in determining the final outcome of the body, as well as habits related to food, exercise, social interaction, etc). And with no way to progress the aging in the body, one would have to wait for years and years for a newly-created clone to develop, which would require consciousness to develop the body properly (there is no way to build up a strong, competent body if it lies unconscious in a preservation chamber with no way to eat or move for years--it'd never make the proper neural connections, or have the proper internal tissue development that requires a complex environment, which is likely why The Island had the clones out of a comatose state). Hence, because the clone would require consciousness to develop, it would be considered a body with a soul, and would be protected under laws concerning individual human rights. Using a comatose body is more realistic as the body had developed naturally for some time until a disaster of sorts to result in the comatose state, but even with no brain activity it's impossible to say that the body is without a soul and is not entitled to human rights still. Because sometimes the body can recover from a comatose state even when it seems like the odds are strongly against it, most families wouldn't release a comatose body for the purpose of a body/brain transplant, nor would they understand the concept behind giving up their loved one to become a stranger. Therefore, the only logical means would be to have two people consciously make the decision to trade.

The process to trade heads or brains has been experimented, but the subjects could only live for a few days with limited movement. But this is without using stem cells or advanced technology to reconnect the brain, those experiments have just been attempts to re-hardwire the brain through current surgical means. Technology is advancing to the point where brains could trade, and on the severed ends of the spinal cord, a disk with millions of electrical receptors and a matrix of processors on each side could rewire brain functions faster than currently imagined by matching up neural pathways. Give it a couple years, and it'll be possible.

There is a group of people, the Raelians, who believe that it'll be possible to do this stuff very soon and are working hard to find the technology. However, their current purposes are to clone younger versions of themselves to transplant their mind into to essentially live forever, if the brain doesn't just get old and fail, that is. They do have a large following of transgendered people who believe they can clone a version of themselves that is opposite their natural gender and transplant into those bodies, however.

Just as a side note on the darker side of this concept: there are some websites stationed in thailand and other remote locations that claim they will transport your brain to a new body for a hefty fee. Those websites are dangerous and should be avoided, because they are deadly in either one of two possibilities. Either they are dabbling in an imperfect science and making gruesome attempts to trade you with a body that they claim to have on-site, therefore unethically killing the life force of the other body and no doubt putting your life on the line, or they are most likely simply scamming the prospective patient (and in some extreme cases, may kill the patient on purpose while acting like they are to perform the surgery). Some of those websites have been shut down, but some still operate. If it doesn't have proper contact information, certification, or an array of doctor testimonials, it's dangerous.

[chris]

yikes !!!!!!

[Adrianne]

Scary

[Tristen Cox]

No thanks I want a memory transplant, switch the rest.

[Tristen Cox]

I Know What You're Talking About. Why Are We Shouting?

[Milla]

Moralistically speaking this technology would/will be abused. Further I'd never wish to proper or enjoy life better at the expense of another’s life.