Recently, I have been following the “head transplant surgery” proposed by a neurosurgeon, Dr. Canavero. He plans to severe the head of a quadriplegic and transplant it onto the body of a brain-dead person. If the operation is successful, the patient will gain full motility in a year. When I first learned about Dr. Canavero’s plan, I quickly dismissed it as an impossible feat since the spinal cord was never successfully reconnected in a test animal, let alone in a human. However, Dr. Canavero recently took me by surprise by managing to severe and reattach a mouse’s spine; in merely a month, the mouse gained partial motor functioning. Dr. Canavero will perform the surgery at the end of the year. He predicts a success rate of a lofty 90%.
I was as excited by his confidence as I was skeptical. A successful testing on an animal does not always translate into
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Although we do not know whether this is even plausible, the notion of immortality does not seem so far-fetched anymore. However, before I delved into the complex science of this crazy idea, I considered how it would potentially affect the society. Of course, such a surgery would be extremely costly, and so, only rich people will be able to afford it. The poor will have to face their inevitable death. Such a society will be unfair, unstable, and utterly bizarre. An image of a 80 year-old-man with a 20 year-old body is disturbing to say the least. Regardless of these “side-effects”, should the surgery be allowed to extend people’s lives?
We always try to make advancements in technology, but before we do so, we must always consider the ethics and the consequences they would bring. I believe this seminar will be a perfect setting to discuss both the scientific and ethical sides of discoveries and advancements being made in the field of