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Surgeon Swears Human Head Transplant Isn't a 'Metal Gear Solid' Publicity Stunt

Posted by Soulskill on from the life-imitates-viral-marketing dept.

Jason Koebler writes: Dr. Sergio Canavero wants to become the first surgeon to perform a human head transplant. But some discerning gamers noticed that a doctor shown in the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V looks almost exactly like Canavero, leading some to speculate that it's all a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming game. Canavero, however, filed a sworn affidavit with Italian police in which he said Konami illegally stole his likeness, and that he has nothing to do with the game.

7 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong Wrong Wrong by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a head transplant .. it's a BODY transplant.

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    1. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by gstoddart · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Except the GP is correct ... because the head is your brain, your memory, your identity, and the thing which will control the body.

      A head transplant would imply Bob would get a new head and change his body ... except we don't have the ability to transfer the parts of Bob contained in the brain to a new head.

      In this case, the head is the single most important part to still being, in some definition of the word, the same person.

      It really is a body transplant, since the owner of the original head is still who will be legally left after this.

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  2. I hope it's a publicity stunt by Shadwhawk · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It might not have anything to do with MGS, but it sure as hell better be a publicity stunt, because anyone involved in an actual human head transplant surgery will need to lose their medical licenses and go to prison for a very long time.

    1. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A body transplant will kill the recipient.

      The body is ALREADY DEAD. They are planning to use the body of someone killed by a head injury, most likely a motorcycle accident. The head is from someone that would otherwise die because of problems with multiple organs (heart, lung, liver, etc.). Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Opposing it has nothing to do with superstition.

      It is either superstition or ignorance.

    2. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A body transplant will kill the recipient.

      The body is ALREADY DEAD. They are planning to use the body of someone killed by a head injury, most likely a motorcycle accident. The head is from someone that would otherwise die because of problems with multiple organs (heart, lung, liver, etc.). Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Opposing it has nothing to do with superstition.

      It is either superstition or ignorance.

      The problem is that the body views it as a head transplant, and the immune system attacks and kills the head.
      This isn't about superstition, and any ignorance is on your own part. This guy has not demonstrated this technique even on a rat, let alone on any sort of primate, and unless he has some super-secret technique (also never demonstrated) for reconnecting the spinal column it's not going to do anything for the guy getting the body attachment.
      This isn't how good medical science is performed. This is "mad doctor in his secret underground lair" style research.

      Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Well no fucking shit buddy. Everybody dies sooner or later. In this case, the patient will die sooner rather than later.
      I'm all for pushing medical boundaries, but it needs to be done in a scientific manner. You don't just find some suckers near the end of their life and do wild and crazy experiments on them in the hopes that maybe something accidentally works.

    3. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It might not have anything to do with MGS, but it sure as hell better be a publicity stunt, because anyone involved in an actual human head transplant surgery will need to lose their medical licenses and go to prison for a very long time.

      Or be hailed as the greatest surgeon who ever lived.

      There is no middle ground with this one.

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  3. Common sense here folks by Lucas123 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Medicine has yet to repair a spinal cord injury, but there are people out there who believe some doctor's going to perform a head transplant? Really?