Slashdot Mirror
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.
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
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.
...
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.
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.
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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!
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.
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.
I know there's a Michael Jackson joke here somewhere...
I do security