What Would Happen if You Had a Brain Transplant? | QUESTION EVERYTHING #2

Could you survive a brain transplant? And if so, would you really want to survive it?
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the human brain the body's most
important organ but also the organ we

know the littlest about it helps us to
think two cents to feel that helps us to

know that we are alive but coming with
the fact that it is the most important

organ it's also irreplaceable if our
lungs liver heart or kidneys fail us

there is usually some hope that a
transplant can save us

brain transplants however seem to only
be long in science fiction but what if

you could have a brain transplant one of
the rest of your body was dying and all

your brain needed to do to survive was
abandon ship

what would happen once your brain woke
up in a new body

the idea of reanimate the dead is not by
any means a new idea in eighteen 18 Mary

Shelley introduced the world to
Frankenstein and the idea of what it

might be like to bring a body back to
life with an entirely new mind the

result as far as the novel goes brought
us something less than human with the

creation frankenstein's monster
responding to words such as creature

monster and it even today the idea of
conducting a brain transplant is

considered controversial with critics
arguing that the procedure challenges

the very idea of consciousness itself
even with moral objections firmly in

place hasn't exactly discourage
scientist from exploring the possibility

of a brain transplant however
transplanting human brain doesn't

exactly exist outside of fiction but
that doesn't apply to animals one of the

earliest known experiments was done by
Vladimir democrat a Russian scientist

who experimented with head transplants
creating briefly living two-headed dogs

later in the nineteen seventies American
surgeon dr. Robert White transplanted

the head of a monkey on to another's
headless body although this was not

whites first attempt at the
controversial procedure it was one of

his more successful ones with the monkey
being able to use it senses until its

immune system

rejected the foreign head and killed the
animal a little over a week after the

operation there have been no documented
cases of a brain being transplanted into

another body however this full head
transplant is a lot more likely a lot

more obtainable while white was never
able to do more than a few briefly

successful head transplant Chinese
doctor shopping ran has attempted to

find the secret behind the tricky
operation by 2015 redhead created over

1,000 hybrid mice by removing and
switching their heads after the

ten-minute operation the mice will be
able to breathe move blank and even eat

on their own using tiny tubes that carry
oxygenated blood from the brain to the

new body the mice would live tragically
short lives dying only a few minutes

after the operation was complete rain
believes that his research though

unsuccessful is the key to understanding
how to one day successfully operate on

human spinal cord however many of Rennes
critics hope that day never comes

dr. hunt Batjer president-elect of the
American Association for neurological

surgeon said I would not wish this on
anyone I would not allow anyone to do it

to me as there are a lot of things worse
than death or could he have meant by

that how can a brain transplant possibly
be worse than death is he just simply

trying to discourage medical
advancements or is there possibly a

colossal downside lurking in the shadows
although experts cannot say for certain

it is widely speculated that if he were
to transport a human brain into another

body the identity of the new body would
be long to the donor of the brain

however some also believe that the shock
and disorientation caused by the

aftermath of the surgery could continue
to alter the personality of the brain

donor creating an entirely new person if
a brain transplant resulted in the

creation of an entirely different person
couldn't that also be considered a form

of death and how would this kind of
operation impact loved ones on both

sides of the issue

how does the family react to their loved
one looking entirely different or how

the grieving process be changed if their
deceased loved one

woke up and could walk and talk but no
longer had the same mind no longer had

an interest in associating with their
family anymore

perhaps this idea of personhood comes
from the fact that we know very little

in regards to how the brain works while
we do know that the brain is deeply

interconnected containing all of our
bodily actions while still taking cues

from the rest of our body as well as the
world around us and interpreting them

we don't know much about how the brain
stores our memories as well as what it

means to be conscious but as the brain
the only thing that holds our

personality and makes us who we are one
theory known as the cellular memory

theory challenges this idea that theory
speculates that human body cells contain

clues to our personalities taste in
history's independently of either our

genetic code or our brain cells so in
theory the recipient of a donated organ

may be susceptible to inheriting some of
the personality traits of the donor

while the theory has not been proven to
be 100% validated some scientists and

physicians are testing these ideas

one organ that is thought to be prone to
sell memory is the heart in Vienna

Austria 47 heart transplant patients
were examined over a two-year period and

while the majority said they experienced
no mental repercussions following the

surgery 15% did say they experienced a
noticeable change in their personality

while six percent said that they could
undoubtedly confirm drastic changes in

their personality or no explained reason
apart from identity surgery such as

brain transplants can raise more
questions such as those over ownership

for instance if the transplant were to
be successful in a male patient and they

were later to have children with those
children be biologically his just

because the identity of the person
changes doesn't mean that the makeup of

the rest of the body does bioethics and
regenerative medicine expert doctor

christopher Scott speculates that not
only would the body not truly be the

recipients but that neither brains nor
body would belong to either party the

question posed was is this a person that
the body belongs to or the person the

head belongs to it is a chimera hybrid
person even if you were to survive a

surgery with your identity still intact
will your sanity be intact as well

some in the medical field believe that
even if a head or brain transplant work

possible creating moving breathing
talking wife the effect the experience

would have on the mind could be
devastating

and considering that those who do
experienced traumatic experiences are

susceptible to changes in their brain
including ships and intelligence

emotional reactivity happiness and
sociability at best the mind may be

altered forever at worst the person goes
insane dr. Paul Myers associate

professor of biology at the University
of Minnesota has explicitly been against

such procedures largely because of the
potential effect it would have on the

health of the mind doctor meyer stated
confidently that even tasks were feudal

the result would be at best a shambling
horror and animal driven mad with pain

and terror crippled and whimpering even
if the transplant were possible similar

issues that could be faced during and
after the procedure can be seen in one

of Sciences latest miracles face
transplants levels of anti-rejection

medications required for the procedure
are so high that they put patients at

risk for cancer and kidney issues

patients also have a hard time getting
full function of their new face making

the idea of a much more complicated
brain transplant even more of an

improbability so with all that being
said brain and head transplants are far

away right while not as far as you might
like to think in 2015 Italian surgeon

Sergio Canavero announced that he
would perform the first ever human head

transplant removing the heads of two
bodies and rejoining them to the

opposite bodies Cannavaro plans to
remove the head of a living person with

a dying body and attaching it to the
body of a recently deceased person whose

body is in relatively good health

the operation costing over 16 million
american dollars would call for over 36

hours of surgery requiring a team of
over 150 medical professionals 80 of

them being surgeons to remove the head
and fix it onto a new body in order to

perform the surgery Connemara would need
to cool the body to a low temperature 10

degrees Celsius to be exact before
decapitating and reattaching using the

nerves of the spinal cords with a small
electric shock

and a substance called PPG
afterwards the patient would be placed

in a coma for almost three weeks to
reduce muscle movement followed by

months of rehabilitation some of it
possibly under virtual reality in order

to have the patient acclimated to their
new body the severe mental strain from

waking up in a body you have never used
is a dangerous proposition after all

despite the hefty price tag on the harsh
criticism surrounding the Italian doctor

Canavero has already found a subject
Russian graphic artist Vladimir Spiridonov

Spiridonov suffers from severe
muscular dystrophy causing him to have

been bound to a wheelchair all of his
life if the surgery goes well it will be

the first time the 31 year old has ever
walked due to the controversy

surrounding the operation the procedure
will take place in China with Canavero

hoping for it to happen as early as 2017
so are we likely to see a full brain

transplant in our lifetime no we're not
however bullhead transplants are

potentially possible however who knows
exactly what we're going to see who

knows what's really truly possible
however there is one fact of course is

that possible doesn't mean ethical
concerns still surrounding some

transplants while others are now
considered common our perception of what

is natural and should remain
uninfluenced by man continues to blur in

change but the facts are that
transplants have saved countless lives a

successful one offers a person a more
fulfilling life allowing those who would

have otherwise surely died and escape
from the threat of premature death but

one perspective believes that while
delaying premature death is OK

delaying it at all costs sometimes at
the possible sacrifice of quality of

life is a crime against nature
reanimating a dead corpse is like people

playing God but aside from moral
objections think of what a successful

procedure like a brain transplant could
do for some of our greatest minds

although brain transplants wouldn't allow
us to be immortal by any means of the

brain ages like any

other organ the procedure would allow
geniuses to continue their work and

continue changing the world for the
better

imagine in what ways the world might be
different if Albert Einstein lived

another 10 years well perhaps this isn't
the best example when offered surgery

that would have possibly saved his life
he actually turned it down and said I

want to go when I want it is tasteless
to prolong life artificially I have done

my share it is time to go I will do it

elegantly and he died the next morning
but aside from geniuses imagine all the

people that it could help and escape
from cancer not a cure by any means but

it is another option and now is the
point where I questioned you I asked on

my Twitter if a brain transplant work to
be 100% successful guaranteed and full

consent was given by both parties do you
agree with the idea of transplanting one

persons living brain into the dead body
of another person

3385 you voted 34% said that brain
transplants are acceptable under any

circumstances

27 percent said that they are unsure
another 27% said that brain transplants

are acceptable only as a last possible
resort for survival and all other

options have been exhausted and the
remaining 12% said that it is never an

acceptable option and that it is
unethical be sure to follow me on my

Twitter @TheRobDyke to cast your
vote in my weekly question everything

poll so what do you think are brain
transplants an exciting step into the

future or is it just another way that
humanity is going to play god and lose

be sure to leave your thoughts in the
comments section below and of course

remember if you want to learn anything
you have to question everything and if

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no questions asked and I will see you

next Friday