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Getting More Face Time
ApharmdB writes "The BBC has a story about the possibility of performing face transplants within the year. Obviously, people are worried about the ethical ramifications, but would someone with your transplanted face actually look like you? Either way, everyone better be careful, or Nicolas Cage may try to steal their family."
New Scientist article
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
It took a long time to mold my nose into the shape of my boss's rectum.
Best Windows Freeware
He can _have_ my family, especially for thanksgiving. I don't know if it's because grandpa stopped wearing pants or uncle ed gets loopy on pernod, but holidays just aren't what they used to be.
Maybe if they're lucky he'll bring those tripped-out alka-seltzer tablets that did him right in the movie.
bleh.
How about modular faces you can switch out at will?
:)
Tom Cruise on Monday...
Brad Pitt on Tuesday...
Weird Al on Wednsday...
Ebay won't let you sell body parts, but maybe you can sell your face on uBid
Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
Uh... well, I don't know where Michael Jackson got his face from, but the nose is obviously from another planet.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
was the tragically unsuccessful guinea pig for most of this experimentation? It would explain so much. Trying to give that poor man the face of some long dead woman.
Inside a dark room, the man who calls himself Linux Torvalds awakes.
Linus: What...what has happened to me?
Stands up, groggily making his way to the mirror - but what looks back at him isn't his face, it's...Steve Balmer!
Linus: Nooooooo!
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away at Linuxworld....
Hacker (in crowd): Hey, is it just me, but did Linus gain like 300 pounds?
Hacker2: Totally. The guy needs to go back on his mac n' cheese diet.
On the stage, a man who's face looks like Linus's is jumping about the stage, clapping his hands.
Steve: Developers, developers, developers....!
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Due to the fact that parents are now 34% more likely to have ugly children, I fully support this. (If that statistic sounds wrong, it's because I made it up).
I wrote an editorial on a topic similar to this right here. It makes a strong case for the right to choose what humans should look like. (Note to those with no sense of humor: Clicking this link will ruin your day).
-- People who hate Windows use Linux. People who love UNIX use BSD.
Imagine your body deciding to reject the transplant, on the bus to work, in the morning....
Most people would try to hold the face on with one hand and grope for the cell phone to call up a doctor. The typical Slashdot reader would stand up and bellow something about stealing souls.
...
This would go great in conjunction with growing human organs and tissue from human DNA.
Imagine having a backup of your own face, just in case you get into a facially disfiguring accident. Instantly, you have your "old" face back.
Travolta was the hero, the FBI agent. Cage was the villianous terrorist. But they switched faces. So Cage, wearing Travolta's face, tried to steal Travolta's life/family. Travolta, wearing Cage's face, was the good guy.
that one should forward to one's spouse...
The insurance claims start rolling in for the "facially challenged"...
Seriously though. This seems to take plastic surgery to an entirely new level. If my old face was destroyed in an accident, I might think for a few moments about getting Mel Gibson's face as a bolt-on.
Of course, without quite a few hours on the treadmill it's not exactly going to have the desired effect, but doesn't this open up a Pandora's Box for copyright issues...
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
I have to think it would be pretty ugly if the recipient rejected the transplant. If that happened, what could be done? With what remained of your original face gone, you'd be left with a collection of grafts and prostheses. I wouldn't take that chance. I certainly wouldn't take the chance for aesthetic reasons.
Brevity is the soul of wit
-- Polonius
but I don't know anyone who wants to look like me, including me! So, I doubt my puss will be stolen any time soon.
If a generic face were available as a "loaner", could we go in, have our faces removed, and get them "serviced" to be younger. then after a few weeks/months/years of work, could it be put back on with 15 years taken off?
Disturbingly enough I find the options here to be limitless.
From the article:
So what happens if your body rejects your face?!?
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
it's the bone that shapes your face for the most part. That's why they can make those clay facial recreations when they find an unidentified skeleton. And that's also why Face/Off was so ridiculous...
I am trying to come up with a obligatory Simpsons reference(and possible link to snpp.com), but I am blank.
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my sig
There are a couple issues that come to mind rather quickly--
The first being that I believe they may be able to start trying to do this in a year but it would take time to get it to work. And I would hate to see what the failures will look like. I would think that rejection would be a major issue. And the bottom line is they've never done this before- there will be bugs to work out.
The second- is what if they could do the whole deal perfectly? What if you could have some dead persons face?
I picture someone walking in a mall and they see their son who committed suicide a bit back walking by. Or bumping into a lost spouse.
This is a much less than ideal solution. I'm not saying they shouldn't do it- but it does need to be really thought out.
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I think this face transplanting has been going on for quite some time. Why, as a student I would go out to a bar and go home with a beautiful stunner. But, next day her face had been 'transplanted' leaving the stunner with the face of a munter. ;-)
-- These views are my own and do not represent those of my employer in any way.
Take that biometrics!
The article said 120 people were surveyed and asked whether they would allow their own face to be used for a transplant after they died. All 120 said they would not allow it.
WTF?! I think it is disgusting that people would not allow this to happen, or even that they would not allow their own faces to be used. What are they, superstitious? WHat idiots....
I would GLADLY allow my face to be used after my death, except for the fact that my entire head will be resting in a liquid-nitrogen filled dewar soon after my death.
Sig:
Navy nuke sub lifestyle?
Eddie Murphy did an SNL skit on face transplants that was pretty funny. IIRC, it was like a pitch to encourage people to donate their face, and they had an interview with a white woman who had received a black face. It was a riot at the time... not sure how well it would hold up.
OK, so science fiction becomes real life alot; but Eddie Murphy jokes? Too unreal.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Perhaps Tom Cruise would like a face transplant... He has worn a mask in four recent movies -- Mission Impossible, Minority Report, Eyes Wide Shut, and Vanilla Sky. Something out of the ordinary is afoot...
Seriously though, I think this will be a great breakthrough for people with facial scarring that is not reparable by conventional means.
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
It's not as much about the skin, fat, and muscle on your face as much as it is how the bones shape the face. The size of your nose comes from that piece of cartilidge. Cheekbones, size of head, location and depth of eyes, jawline, and smile have nothing to do with what this doctor is talking about transplanting. The only unethical problem would be giving face transplants so you can look like someone else, and I'm sure some Columbian drug cartel's retained plastic surgeon can already pull that off. I don't think this is anything to worry about...yet.
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Cheese it! It's the FEDS!
While I want my hard drive backup to be an exact copy, I'd prefer it if my face backup looked a little more like Bruce Campbell, thanks.
Freedom: "I won't!"
The face is probably one of the most unused body parts for organ donors, maybe now it will become a little more important.
Wonder, where the money would go to buy one of these things, since organ donation is supposed to be non-profit.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
Looks like monkey boy's (Microsoft CEO Ballmer's) next of kin.
So much for him trying to be the next Dianah Ross.
Talk about loving the Aqua skin! Now you can have Aqua Skin(TM).
I want Ron Jeremy's face!He seems to get the chicks, I assume it's just because of his darn good facial features!
Trolling is a art,
Winamp, Mozilla, and now THIS?? You're gonna look might silly when your face doesn't match the remaining native widgets on the rest of your body.
So, if this face transplant stuff works, can you make me look like Cindy Crawford? (with the exception of having my hairy legs and spare tire, of course)
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
Hey, these two guys could do with this technology - like now! I can just hear George W's speech.. "We've found that the faces of two international terrorists have been transplicated..."
-- These views are my own and do not represent those of my employer in any way.
So much for facial identification technology at airports. Hell do the hands while you're at it for the finger prints, if you're not planning on living long who cares what the antirejection drugs do to you.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
Nah, you'd make more money as Bubba, your previous prez. Except on Hallowe'en, when Nixon would be the big thing.
I was planning on mapping my own face in case I ever needed to replace it due to some unfortunate accident (and science could manage it), but I just got a cease and desist letter from my mother. Apparently she holds the copyright. =(
My
Limekiller
Of all the reasons to have a transplant, getting a new face might be the stupidest one I've ever heard.
Recently, doctors have begun experimental arm transplants for amputees. The first ever recipient had to have the transplanted arm removed and has said on record that if he'd known then what he knows now, he would have decided against the transplant.
In addition to the risk of rejection, there's the very real danger caused by anti-rejection drugs which suppress the immune system. Scientists believe that immune-suppressing drugs that keep transplant recipients from rejecting their new organs or other items increase their risks of dying from infection significantly. I can't remember the exact statistic, but ISTR that a transplant recipient has something like a one in ten chance of dying within 7 years. Is it worth it to risk your life over a new face? I realize that patients with severe facial damage may want to take that risk, but overall, I'd say it's not worth the risk. Transplants should be reserved for life-saving operations, otherwise the risks are too high.
The issue of how close you'd look to the new face, and how much you'd retain of your old is one which has been discussed regarding a procedure of this level, and while there's a lot of character in the skin tone and fat/muscle distribution, the bony underneath of your skull does hold quite a lot of your features. Surgery on transsexuals to change facial features gives some stunning results - it's playing with the features we have most of our ability to recognise - the sex of a person judged by the face. Simply changing the eyebrow ridge from male to female shaped, and chin/jaw resculpting can drastically alter features, as much as any soft tissue.
For examples, see the photos at;
authentikate.com
cinematter.com
and
genderpeace.com
all who have had this facial feminisation surgery. This is not an example of surgery to make anyone particularly attractive by changing tiny features such as nose size, or a facelift, or lip-plumping, but drastic facial reconstruction, mainly only on the bony features.
Just some info.
the article (you DID read it, didn't you) seems to indicate that it's being pursued due to the unique nature of facial tissue than about the actual structure.
For example, burn victims can have skin grafts, but skin from other areas of the body doesn't have the same properties as the skin that naturally develops on the face. Facial skin in particular has a much higher concentration of nerve endings than that on your upper back.
....what you look like now," Logan's Run.
-- Knuckle Blood : Official Lube of Team Rusty Nuts.
Under the above statement, a picture of Michael Jackson taken that day in court.
Under the Picture: Don't let THIS happen.
I know there's a Michael Jackson joke here somewhere...
I do security
Hmm, who holds the copyright for my face? Me, my parents, or God? Or do we all hold copyright together? What about other members of society for various amendments and adjustments, like scars, etc?
LaToya
He's at least six faces past "Phase 2".
Facial transplants could help so many, from folks who've survived car accidents to (as mentioned in one article) cancer patients to kids with birth defects. The surgery at best would provide the image of a normal, healthy, whole face, which is how we get a lot of non-verbal information from people. It's not like there would be a strong resemblence to the deceased due to differences in not only bone struction, but also in habitual expressions and personality.
There's really not much chance of any one person being able to "steal" another's family or life with this technology. The recipient would have to 1) have the same physical structure, 2) be one fantastic actor, and 3) manage to imitate body odor as well. While the third may seem trivial, there's a lot of research regarding pheromone-immune system links to mate selection. The transplanted party's significant others and pets would still recognize him or her via smell.
Will the DMCA takedown provision extended to copyrighted faces? "Rip his face off, he looks just like me". Will the megacorps be able to sneak into our houses and look at our photo albums looking for infringment? Will Al Queida develop a f2f (face to face) network to fool Tom Ridge and his merry band? Can I go faceless for halloween?
/. reader has nothing to fear)
I think it might be time for my new invention:
The DCMA razor!
Takes a picture of your face and checks it against it's database
Shaves Close
Removes your features if you look like Tom Cruise
(don't worry, the average
Profit!?
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
You could just have a standard model, and buy the face separately.
Evil is the money of root.
They could lotto off their faces after they die! That'd be the charity benefit to top all charity benefits.
As for biometrics, unless they change the underlying bone structure, shouldn't they still work (Other than skin color of course)?
Some kid'll walk up to you and say "I see dead people!" Someone'll probably make a movie about it :)
>I picture someone walking in a mall and they see their son who committed suicide a bit back walking by.
That's easy. Public Service Ads.
"Hi! We're the band members from Nirvana, and this is our new friend Michael Jackson! We'd like to remind you that being a multi-platinum rock star sucks so fucking hard that not even a brand new face can cure that gnawing need for heroin, uh, happiness, that's deep down inside there, and you finally decide to end it all, you should be a responsible citizen! Make sure to do it right! Be like Kurt! Erase Your Face!"
Just last night, my wife was also asking me if she could get more face time. "Sure", I responded, "only if I get more head time."
Insert obligitory reason for Michael Jackson having kids here.
...stand up, stagger backwards, and snarl, "I must find a new host body!"
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Trust me. You can take my face if you want, but if you want to be me...well, no, you don't want to be me. Unlike other people, being me requires hell of a lot more than having my looks. You need to do stuff like code all night, run around in circles flapping your arms, eat all kinds of weird crap, not bathe very often, and also (perhaps as a result?) not get laid for months at a time.
Being me ain't easy. You've been warned.
---
Open Source Shirts
I vote we call it a FacePlant instead.
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'cos those of us with brit skin don't tan, we go near a window and if we're lucky we'll come away with just a few freckles. Dare to venture outside and we're burnt raw. Swapping for skin about 3 shades darker would be a nice fix!
:)
(of course being ugly as sin is a... uhhh secondary reason
a grrl & her server
See what happens when you pick your nose and the air-bag goes off!
to the eternal question, "How to get laid as a computer nerd?"
Except that it wasn't American scientists doing the research, so it would be your tax pound if you lived in England.
...
One persistent problem for Transpeople to "pass" as their inner gender is their face. Some women faces just can't "wear" a male gender. And in reverse, it can be even harder.
I guess the Transgendered community can add this to the list of expensive surgeries that can't be afforded.
Online wrestling as a trading card game? WWF With Authority.
Come get some.
If I recall correctly, clowns trademark their faces, and somewhere all the registered faces are stored, painted on egg shells. If a clown wears another clown's face without permission, the law suit is over trademark violation.
Which brings up an interesting point; should actors trademark their own faces? I've heard that the actors from Cheers have already had problems with people using their likenesses without permission. The movie The Crow showed that it's possible to put an actor's face on a stunt double if there's budget for it. Having a trademark on your likeness could be an important part of acting in the future.
Of course, if Hollywood were like the music industry, the studio would want to hold the trademark. It would sure suck if you quit, but your contract said you couldn't act anymore because the producers own your face. Even worse, they keep on making movies using your face a la S1m0ne.
Pandora's box really opens up when you happen to look like Mel Gibson, and you want to go into acting, but you can't because your face infringes on his trademark. In a particularly barbaric world I could even see the ruling stipulate that if you want to act you must get a facial scar of some sort. Even in this (only semi-barbaric) world, I really don't think that I'd want, as a judge, to have to set precendent for facial infringement and how close the match needs to be to qualify. How would you even measure that?
With any luck the courts would simply throw it out, but with the amount the Studios can afford to pay their lawyers, who knows...
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
Damn Microsoft zealots changing their skin to the Luna Style. They have to be members of this network. :-P
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
You might wake up in some cheap hotel in a bathtub full of ice ... *insert Psycho sound effects here* ...WITH NO FACE!!!!!
Sounds like a great new Urban Myth!
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
And be sure to visit the New You Shop!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
The person who breaks those cat legs for the trial must qualify for most brutal job in the world.
Sex - Find It