Image by Braindbridge via YouTube / Futurism

Head/Off

In a gruesome yet preposterous video that's straight out of a David Cronenberg body horror movie, a biologist proposes that doctors in the future will be able to remove a human head from one body and attach it to another by using advanced robotics.

Hashem Al-Ghaili, a biologist and filmmaker, presents in the video a gory yet goofy illustration of how the bizarre experiment could be carried out: two identical autonomous robots, each with multiple arms, would simultaneously operate on the healthy brain-dead donor body and the presumably worn-out body that's the source of the head and brain.

Labeling the whole concept under the catchy brand name of "BrainBridge," Al-Ghaili conceives that this process would unfold like an assembly line, with one robot surgically removing the recipient's entire head while the other robot does the same to the donor's. Then a mobile platform would shift the recipient's head to the healthy donor body and suture these two disparate pieces together.

Al-Ghaili also envisions the robots removing the presumably younger face of the donor and attaching it to the recipient's skull — adding another eye-popping layer to this carnival of horror.

 

Head Space

The video seems to be pure speculative science since it's not backed by any peer-reviewed research papers, but it sure makes for arresting visuals. Al-Ghaili, who makes a habit of making viral videos, previously put together a video about a hypothetical artificial womb factory where future babies would be grown — fooling at least one political commentator into thinking the facility was real.

Oh, and did we mention that he only has a master's degree in biology?

Despite the head-turning video, scientists have speculated about the possibility of whole-head transplants and have even experimented with transplanting monkey heads.

But like cryogenics, it's mainly remained the domain of cranks and fraudsters. Sure, there have been advances in robotics and AI, but surgeons can't even reliably transplant genetically modified pig organs into human bodies yet.

And that's without getting into the bioethics of such a procedure even if it were feasible. The operation would enable something approaching immortality — but also necessitate a supply of healthy yet braindead young bodies for the benefit of wealthy patients, and we can only imagine where that would lead.

More on organ transplants: Organ Transplants Can Change Personality and Even Sexual Orientation, Scientists Find


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