Project outline for the first human head transplantation with spinal linkage

&gt;In 1970, Robert White and his colleagues successfully transplanted the head of a rhesus monkey on the body of another one, whose head had simultaneously been removed. The monkey lived 8 days and was, by all measures, normal, having suffered no complications.[28]<p>I would think that living only 8 days would be a &quot;complication&quot;

If they can successfully do this, it raises interesting questions&#x2F;opportunities to grow a brainless clone of yourself in a vat, then transplant your head from your elderly body onto a fresh new body.<p>I don&#x27;t think the transfer will necessarily make your brain young and fresh again, but it might have unexpected positive effects:<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9615779/Transfusion-of-young-blood-could-delay-onset-of-diseases-like-Alzheimers.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;health&#x2F;9615779&#x2F;Transfusion-of-you...</a> <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130325093659.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencedaily.com&#x2F;releases&#x2F;2013&#x2F;03&#x2F;130325093659.ht...</a>

Arguably, this isn&#x27;t a &quot;head&#x2F;spine transplant&quot;, it&#x27;s a &quot;body transplant&quot;. Whichever part the brain is in is the important part.

Made me think of this story:<p><i>But Demikhov became even more famous for another crazy transplant experiment: Dog head transplants.<p>Following a first successful transplant by his colleague Professor A. G. Konevskiy at the Volgograd State Medical University, Demikhov started to regularly exchange heads of dogs.</i><p><a href="http://io9.com/5776600/the-story-of-the-giant-dog-headed-robot-that-never-was" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;io9.com&#x2F;5776600&#x2F;the-story-of-the-giant-dog-headed-rob...</a>

Can anyone here better explain the hand-wavy stuff about re-connecting the spinal cord? I (incorrectly or not) think of the spinal cord as bunch of wires, presumably that have to be connected to the correct counterpart individually. In the article they talk about reconnecting the spinal column in ~2 minutes, which seems to rule that out.

What if it turns out that people can greatly extend their lifespans, or even live forever, by undergoing successive head transplants -- but every time one person gets transplanted, someone else has to die to provide the body?<p>What if we&#x27;re headed for a world where the rich and powerful hire body snatchers to kidnap people off the street to provide bodies whenever they need a transplant? What if there are loopholes in the criminal justice system or covert government agencies that will allow people with the right connections to get access to an organized supply of helpless victims?

To all those commenting as though this will be happening next year or next month, the realistic view is that until we have the technology to restore function in a quadriplegic we will not be performing head transplants anytime soon.<p>A project outline is just a project outline- only a step up from a napkin doodle. I have actually sat down with friends of mine over a dozen scotches and made &#x27;project outlines&#x27; that involve wiring up circulatory systems to a redundant twin, or a immuno-naive xenograft (read: pig). Came up with some hilarious medical chat regarding the procedure. Whilst it&#x27;s all well and good to talk about the surgical procedures that would be required and the drugs and machines you could use during different parts of a procedure there&#x27;s a long way from chat to implementation. Not to say that some human centipede stuff isn&#x27;t possible given the right twisted individual and correct resources and time

I foresee a future dominated by wealthy, semi-senile &quot;immortals&quot; in virile, muscular young vat-grown bodies.<p>At least, I <i>hope</i> they&#x27;re vat-grown.

The paper envisions post-op reproduction as possible: &quot;The chimera would carry the mind of the recipient but, should he or she reproduce, the offspring would carry the genetic inheritance of the donor.&quot;<p>If the head and the body came from citizens of two different countries, what citizenship would the child have, presuming it is born in a land where citizenship flows from that one parent?

I&#x27;m glad that there are people out there thinking about these things. I&#x27;ve witnessed first hand some pretty amazing limb functionality improvements through nerve repair and definitely understand his confidence in that realm. However, I can&#x27;t think of a scenario in which testing this really could be justified. The one that comes to mind first, of course, is a quadriplegic. But really, we&#x27;d be putting a real person through an incredibly traumatic procedure with a high likelihood of fatality for a chance at motility. I don&#x27;t think there&#x27;d be much support for that.

This may be the coolest thing i&#x27;ve ever read. It also reminds me of an old Russian science fiction book &quot;Professor Dowell&#x27;s Head&quot; a little

Shouldn&#x27;t it be called <i>body transplantation?</i>

If it&#x27;s a human head on some other human&#x27;s body, I wonder what the psychological effects will be; IIRC, limbs have been transplanted before, and in some cases they were removed again because the recipient rejected it mentally - that&#x27;s not my arm.

The obvious crazy-sci-fi use of this is transplanting an older head&#x2F;brain into a younger, cloned body.<p>While this would only happen many years in the future, if at all, to say this raises ethical issues is a serious understatement.

Part of the plot in dystopic This Perfect Day, by Ira Levine.<p>Heinlein had an interesting twist in I Will Fear No Evil -- old billionaire male gets brain transplanted into body of a young female.

A new way for sex change coming? The ability to do the almost impossible adam&#x27;s apple change, along with the body in a single step.

It&#x27;s a body transplant.