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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
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
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...
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!
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"?
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!"
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.
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.
I know there's a Michael Jackson joke here somewhere...
I do security
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
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!"