[ExI] Will head transplants be the new life extension method?

[Mike Dougherty]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 9:59 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> That notion solves the cruel and unusual angle on the capital punishment
> debates, sort of.  Or perhaps it opens a new one.  We can imagine states
> going to forms of execution which would kill the brain but not damage the
> body much, such as immersing the prisoner pure nitrogen for a couple
> minutes, brain dies, body scarcely notices, gets a new honest head.
>
> On the other hand, if the stem cell guys work out a means to reconnect the
> spinal cord, then the person who received the body eventually retrains the
> control system so she can walk about.  Then she goes to states which do not
> currently allow capital punishment and goes about telling everyone how she
> is alive thanks to a body transplant from a murderer, and that the murderer
> was given a couple more years of life as well, etc.  That might encourage
> the rest of the states to pass laws allowing capital punishment with the
> option for body transplant followed by a pardon.

I certainly don't want to rain on your macabre party, but couldn't we
set our sights a little higher?  Why must one person's head-swap be at
the expense of another?  Where's all the post-scarcity thinking
solutions that involves 3d printing a new body, or assembling one from
a commodity parts bin?  Maybe your healthcare doesn't cover the newest
medical technology, so you get last year's surplus at a cut rate*

I was only being semi-facetious about robot bodies.  We're already
working on prosthetic arms and legs being controlled by neural
interface.  I hope by the time we're seriously considering head
transplants we have that well-in-hand* such that neural interfaces to
whole a body prosthetic is "only" an engineering challenge  (rather
than social/ethical quagmire)

For those on the waiting list for body prosthesis, life will likely
consist of virtual world rehab exercises to become accustomed to the
new UI.  For some, shelf-life* might be an alternative to cryotank
while they wait for their opportunity to upload.


* sorry, i love puns.