In ancient China, grafting was called "wooden lining", which means grafting seedlings on mature branches and using mature branches to grow well. With the advancement of human civilization, grafting technology has become more and more mature. Today, it has a relatively mature system engineering. These technologies have profoundly influenced human agriculture and diet to this day.
. This method of transplanting flowers and woods will bring unprecedented changes to organisms on the earth, including humans. It is also the development of these science and technology that also shows that various inventions and research that transcend imagination will improve our lives in the future.
For example, the story we are going to tell today may not have believed it if we saw it decades ago. : Can someone actually perform "head change surgery" on monkeys? Since this incident happened, it has attracted countless attention from inside and outside the industry.
The first "head change monkey"
"head change" is no longer a fantasy, but it is true. The first application of this surgery was to a monkey. was conducted by a team led by Italian surgical expert Sergio Canavero and Chinese Professor Ren Xiaoping.
Scientists found that if the monkey's "head" was frozen at minus 15 degrees Celsius, the monkey could survive during the operation and would not damage the brain. Therefore, the scientists did this treatment on the monkey that was about to be operated, and then performed a head and body transplant.
Although the operation was successful, the monkeys who tested also had a clear consciousness, , the "sewages" of this operation were also very obvious. The monkey after the test did not function normally after the operation.
This is because this "head change operation" only connects the monkey's head and the blood vessels of the new body, but the spinal cord nerve of the new head and the new body cannot be connected. This means that even if the monkey survives, it cannot truly control its body. It is paralyzed below the head. is what we commonly call "high-level paraplegia" . The final result can be said to be "living is worse than death."
As the first monkey to successfully "change head", although the overall operation was quite successful, considering the current physical condition of the monkey, the scientists decided to "euthanize" the monkey for humanity after repeated discussions. In this way, this "head change surgery" lasted 18 hours and cost up to 70 million yuan. After , the monkey survived for only 20 hours, and ended his life under the treatment of scientists.
The social response of modern "head change technique"
The head and body transplantation of monkeys caused an uproar in the scientific community, and voices of agreeing and opposition were heard one after another. Everyone discussed this experiment. The consenters believe that bold scientific experiments will sacrifice, but once they are successful, it will be beneficial to the scientific development of the whole world. Moreover, if this technology is gradually studied and applied to clinical medicine , then in the future, it will no longer be a dream for people to "life and immortality" to "become a person." And if the experiment is successful, it will be a huge boon for those who are physically paralyzed.
Opponents believe that life and death are inevitable phenomena in the biological world. The artificial control of life and death by is a blasphemy of life and death . Moreover, during this research, it will definitely come at the cost of continuous experiments of animals, and such experiments will sacrifice the lives of many innocent animals. Such research process is undoubtedly very cruel and inhumane. Moreover, the research results based on countless sacrifices may not necessarily be successful in the final results, so it should not continue at the cost of sacrificing life.
Of course, it is reasonable that the social masses have different reactions in the face of such "social anecdotes". For example, after this incident, something very interesting happened.Russian Computer scientist Spilidonov suffered from spinal muscular atrophy since childhood, and his muscles stopped developing, causing him to be disabled throughout his body and have skeletal deformities since childhood.
He asked Canavero for help in 2014, hoping to transplant a healthy body. The operation is expected to be performed as early as 2016. After in-depth discussion and attempts, Spiridonov admitted that the operation is at high risk and was afraid, but his condition has continued to worsen in recent years and decided to give it a try. However, as time went on, Spiridonov later found that the operation was very dangerous, and he also talked about a lovely girlfriend, and he later simply said: I will not participate in the operation. It can be seen that many scientific research with very grand visions do require a process in public acceptance and popularization.
Discussion on "head and body transplantation" in the scientific community.
Humans have long realized the replacement of organs, such as internal organs, skin, and even faces. Some people have seen people who look exactly the same as their deceased relatives, but in fact they have performed face-changing techniques. The key to head and body transplantation is to cut off the tissues and spinal cord of the head and body at the same time. It is necessary to cut off the spinal cord with the sharp scalpel and "mechanically connected" to other bodies. After changing the head, use a medical "glue" to connect the spines together, and the muscles should also be sutured together. The suture of the muscles is much simpler, but it should also be highly precise.
critics believe that the idea of head and body transplantation is too crazy and is "pure fantasy." There is still ethical controversy over head transplantation in . Some people believe that the preparation time for two years is too short, and it is impossible to fully prepare such a huge operation in such a time;
Some people also believe that if the head and body transplantation is successful, it can provide a way out for patients with terminal illnesses, but such a cost must be sky-high and cannot be popularized. The trial user data sample is too small, which will also have an adverse impact on future research of this surgery.
In fact, whether it is to change the head or not, when technology reaches a certain level, many problems will be put on the table. is like the current geocentric theory , heliocentric theory. When satellite goes to the sky and astronauts go to space, everyone naturally knows that the earth is round and the earth orbits the sun. Therefore, when human medical level reaches the point where it is possible to perform head change and can easily overcome difficulties, there will naturally be no ethical issues.
Humans can make cloned organisms. The biological research of animals is not considered ethical. Is research on human bodies an ethical issue? is like people cannot eat human flesh, but they can eat beef and mutton, which is self-deception. Little do people know that human flesh is a top-notch delicious for carnivores.
Some scholars believe that it is inhumane to force the monkey to remove its head and body without obtaining the consent of the monkey. At present, there are many people supporting this argument. However, many people with terminal illnesses hope that this technology will succeed because they are very eager to stand up again. shows that this social feeling of arsenic and honey takes time and continuous technical improvement to see the effect, and what will this "head change technology" develop in the future. Perhaps it is still an unknown number.
