Brain Transplantation: Alluring Route to Success?

Gabriel Tordjman Social Sciences 22 January, 2009

Introduction

Organ transplantation is almost a half century old now and has developed tremendously since the first heart transplants by Dr. Christian Barnard in the 1970s.

Thanks to the recent development of nano-neural science and micro flux capacitor technology, the possibility of replacing one’s brain with another is now a reality. Today the possibilities of brain transplants present an alluring possibility for many to dramatically improve their chances for academic, professional and even personal success.

Despite its many health and ethical dangers, brain transplantation provide the best route for improving one’s lot in life. Annotated Bibliography

Penfield, Wilder. Using Your Head. Arguments in Favour of Brain Replacement. New York: Harper’s, 2007.

Penfield argues that it is not unethical to take someone’s brain from him if he is not using it. Thus millions of zombies watching TV or video games all day will hardly miss the removal of their brains for their insertion into someone else’s body. But Penfield disagrees that this should be involuntary. Consent of the donor is a key primary principle even though it may be an additional obstacle to brain donation. However, Penfield believes such voluntary donations should not be difficult since the donors, after all, are not using their brains.

Penfield’s book is excellent, well argued and clearly written. He also uses the latest statistics and documents and has gathered excellent reports from physicians, ethicists and politicians covering each of the key issues in this topic. One problem area, however, is the lack of testimonials from past brain donors. Getting the viewpoint from the folks most immediately implicated would be a great plus.

Bibliography

“Frankenstein Fears After Head Transplant,” BBC News [online], Friday, 6 April, 2001, Date accessed: 20 January, 2011.

Pandya, S.K. "Medical Ethics in the Neurosciences." Neurology India 51.3 (Sep. 2003): 317-322. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Dawson College Library, Westmount, Quebec. 22 Jan. 2009.

Penfield, Wilder. Using Your Head. Arguments in Favour of Brain Replacement. New York: Harper’s, 2007.

“Whole-body Transplant,” Wikipedia. The Free Encylopedia. No publication date. Date accessed: 20 January, 2011. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole- body_transplant>

Withgott, Jay. "Bird Brain Transplants." Science Now (20 Apr. 2001): 3. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Dawson College Library, Westmount, Quebec. 22 Jan. 2009. .

NB: In this example, the 1st entry and 3rd entry are not scholarly sources but are being used for background knowledge and are thus listed in the bibliography. The “student” here still has three other scholarly sources.