Head transplant surgeon now thinks brain transplants are feasible

[UM-Bot]

Sergio Canavero made headline news a few years ago after planning to perform a head transplant on a disabled patient.

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/363243/head-transplant-surgeon-now-thinks-brain-transplants-are-feasible

[+Desertrat56]

I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein.   Crazy idea!   The article didn't say where the doctor was going to get a body to put the head of his patient on.   That would be problematic.   

Edited January 17, 2023 by Desertrat56

[spartan max2]

I can't image the "phantom leg" type pain and confusion from this.

We will be half cyborg before we have the techn and knowledge to do brain transplants. 

Though the curious part of me wants to see what happens to people. 

[esoteric_toad]

How can it be remotely possible when we still cannot repair severed spinal cords???

[Abramelin]

1 hour ago, esoteric_toad said:

How can it be remotely possible when we still cannot repair severed spinal cords???

Stem cells look like the answer.

[Duke Wellington]

If someone had a head transplant how awkward would it be going to the toilet.

Knowing that you are holding another mans ........

[moonman]

Maybe prove step #1 is even possible before you start speculating on step #3451, doctor guy.

[Duke Wellington]

I believe if they glue the spinal cord together its current a maximum of 40% return of sensation, or new sensation depending on how you look at it.

Is a person who gets the 40% even going to be able to walk?

[josellama2000]

I wish head transplant is archived soon.
That is big, so many wifes can be treated
:)

[josellama2000]

yes, i always tell my wife that the problems are in her head. So, new head, no more problems.

Edited June 24, 2023 by josellama2000

[+Desertrat56]

22 hours ago, josellama2000 said:

yes, i always tell my wife that the problems are in her head. So, new head, no more problems.

There was a scienc fiction book written, I read it in the 70's, can't remember the title or the author, a very old rich man pays to put his brain in his secretaries body (after leaving her everything in his will) and he has to learn how to be a woman, and not out himself, also has to learn to deal with her problems that money can't fix.   

[Tatetopa]

We can't handle sex changes yet and we are talking about head transplants?

[+Desertrat56]

On 6/25/2023 at 8:03 AM, Desertrat56 said:

There was a scienc fiction book written, I read it in the 70's, can't remember the title or the author, a very old rich man pays to put his brain in his secretaries body (after leaving her everything in his will) and he has to learn how to be a woman, and not out himself, also has to learn to deal with her problems that money can't fix.   

My memory is so bad I didn't remember posting (when I remembered the book).   I guess I need a vacation.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Will_Fear_No_Evil

[SHaYap]

14 hours ago, Tatetopa said:

We can't handle sex changes yet and we are talking about head transplants?

When a medical practitioner uses a word like "feasible" ...

~

 

 

[DarkHunter]

This was largely known to be feasible since the 1970s.  I cant remember when, I think the 40s or 50s, that a head can be kept alive indefinitely as long as oxinated blood is supplied to it when a Russian doctor severed the head from a dog and kept it alive till the pump supplying oxinated blood was turned off.

In the 1970s an American doctor successfully did a head transplant on monkeys but the monkeys were completely paralyzed from the neck down, could only breath with the help of a machine, and they did die 8 days after the operation as the body's immune system rejected the new head.

The main issue has always been in how to deal with the paralysis but that might not be a problem for much longer.

[+Desertrat56]

The whole idea just seems stupid to me, why not waste time (as opposed to wasting time trying to transplant a head) on transferring a consciousness into a clone.   Then you get a new body and brain with the memories in tact (yeah, if consciousness resided in the brain that is).

[XenoFish]

49 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

The whole idea just seems stupid to me, why not waste time (as opposed to wasting time trying to transplant a head) on transferring a consciousness into a clone.   Then you get a new body and brain with the memories in tact (yeah, if consciousness resided in the brain that is).

I'd rather the effort be put into a functional cyborg. Why put a brain in an organic body, when one of steel would be more effecient. Plus I honestly think that will be the only way humans will every be able to explore the universe. Also, the consciousness transferred to the clone would be a copy. Not the original consciousness. I think we've had a few threads on that very subject.

[+Desertrat56]

12 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

I'd rather the effort be put into a functional cyborg. Why put a brain in an organic body, when one of steel would be more effecient. Plus I honestly think that will be the only way humans will every be able to explore the universe. Also, the consciousness transferred to the clone would be a copy. Not the original consciousness. I think we've had a few threads on that very subject.

With a viable clone you would have to accept that even though the DNA is a copy, the person that is that clone is not and you could only add the memories of the person you clone if someone figured out how to download memories to a computer or another person.   That is the trickiest part, which is why I used the term "waste time".    Even if you could take a brain and move it to a cyborg body how would you get the nervous system to work, it seems like there has been more successful experiementation with that adding computer chips to help people with spinal injuries etc.  

Even the coclia implant for hearing issues is a start in that direction.   Once you can integrate the brain into an artificial nervous system you can then create that type of cyborg.  In the meantime working peice by peice is how it will happen, a replacement hand, eye, legs etc.   Your suggestion will be possible much sooner than clones with downloaded memories or head transplanted to a different body.

[XenoFish]

16 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

With a viable clone you would have to accept that even though the DNA is a copy, the person that is that clone is not and you could only add the memories of the person you clone if someone figured out how to download memories to a computer or another person.   That is the trickiest part, which is why I used the term "waste time".    Even if you could take a brain and move it to a cyborg body how would you get the nervous system to work, it seems like there has been more successful experiementation with that adding computer chips to help people with spinal injuries etc.  

Even the coclia implant for hearing issues is a start in that direction.   Once you can integrate the brain into an artificial nervous system you can then create that type of cyborg.  In the meantime working peice by peice is how it will happen, a replacement hand, eye, legs etc.   Your suggestion will be possible much sooner than clones with downloaded memories or head transplanted to a different body.

You answered your own question. This discussion is nothing new to me. 

[+Desertrat56]

2 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

You answered your own question. This discussion is nothing new to me. 

I didn't really have a question, I was expressing exasperation with people wasting time on things that are  not viable when we already have what you call cyborg (and based on science fiction that is the right term).   We do already have lots of experiements with that kind of solution.  Just not to the extent that we can put a brain in a robot body yet.

[XenoFish]

2 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

I didn't really have a question, I was expressing exasperation with people wasting time on things that are  not viable when we already have what you call cyborg (and based on science fiction that is the right term).   We do already have lots of experiements with that kind of solution.  Just not to the extent that we can put a brain in a robot body yet.

I am fully aware of that. Nevermind, carry on.

[openozy]

How about putting funds into health care instead of this Frankenstein rubbish, it's like a horror movie.