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Brain Transplants – a Biological and Ethical Nightmare – RedState

It’s hard to believe, but once again, this isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke. It really is not.

Some years back, there was a nutty professor named Sergio Canavero who claimed that he would soon be carrying out the world’s first head transplant. Now, we should note that this would more properly be a body transplant, as the mind and consciousness are contained in the brain — but in any case, Canavero’s own brain proved not to be up to the task, and no head (or body) transplant was carried out. But his work prompted RealClearScience’s Dan Baumgardt to ask: What about a brain transplant? The real problem, as it happens (and this is no surprise to anyone who has studied biology), is installing the new brain.

The brain receives sensory information from all over the body and sends instructions back to it, making muscles contract, the heart beat and glands secrete hormones. Removing a brain…

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