If this was the future where body replacements were possible would you opt for one?

If you’ve ever seen the movie Repo, The Genetic Opera, you’d know why my answer without hesitation is ‘no way.’

If I could just maybe get a new tongue, that’d be great, I want to taste food instead of just feeling it for once.

Yes.

Hmm, my first thought is yes. However, this would increase the chances of completely overpopulating the planet…so I don’t think it would be a great idea (so no on that). But, then, if we lived on several other planets by that time, my answer would be yes.

New brain please! Any brain besides mine will do.

@ZEPHYRA Psst…...you have to keep your old brain, you just get a new body to house it.

I agree with @Plucky.

Question – how many times can we do this? Can I keep transferring to new bodies?

My first inclination when I had not read all the question details was yes, because I thought it was just growing an organ and replacing it in my own body. Then, as it became clear to me what you were talking about, I thought no, because generally I am not keen on cloning. But, the absence of a brain in the clone makes it interesting. I think I would want to do it. I would be very very nervous someting would go wrong though, just like I am with most medical procedures. That would be my hesitation, winding up worse than I am now, or dead, because of a mishap.

Sure.I could use an extra hand around the house.

At first, I was thinking yes, but then reading the details, I’d have to say no. The whole idea of a brainless clone with genetic manipulation to speed up it’s aging turned me off. What’s to say that genetic manipulation won’t speed up the aging of it’s body/body parts? Not to mention, how exactly would all the bodily stuff that happens to keep the human body alive and functioning properly happen without a brain?

@Seaofclouds I think that, for the purposes of this question, you can assume that the functional stuff has been taken care of.

Reminds me of the movie Surrogates.
It would be nice to say I wouldn’t be interested, but I think it would be pretty cool.
I’m in.

@roundsquare You know what happens when you assume, right? ;) I’m sure that things would be taken care of, but at what cost?

Why would we need clones to do that?
Even today, we can take any organ, even from a pig, remove the cells so that only the scaffolding remains, and then seed that scaffolding with stem cells from the recipient. That way you get a 100% compatible replacement organ without having to even take it from another human.
With that method, they have already made a beating mouse rat heart.

@ragingloli My specific chronic health problems could not be fixed with organ transplant. Also, I am just thinking that the new clone would have no wrinkles and not need to lose 10 pounds. Both cosmetic and obesity surgeries might be done much less often if we can get a whole new body.

Hmmm….I would be inclined to say no. The whole thing brings up complicated questions for me. Is our whole self really contained within our brain? Would I not loose something of myself if I changed my body? How would humanity be effected if we did not have to deal with the process of death and poor health? I think it is, at least in part, through our stuggles that we gain empathy. I think without these struggles, our species would become somehow less.

My first thought on reading your subject line was “definitely.” I read your details and no longer felt quite sure, but why, I can’t tell you. Raising clones brainlessly circumvents the old moral conundrum of clones raised for slaughter, so that can’t be it. My inability to pinpoint a reason tells me I’m probably approaching the problem emotionally rather than logically, so I’m going to stick with my original answer and say yes, with some qualifiers.

I think I would take a replacement for a body part that wears out at an unusually young age due to illness (so for me, I’d take a replacement colon) but I do not think I would do anything to reverse the natural aging process. I don’t think our battle with mortality is a commendable one. I feel that overpopulation is going to become a huge issue if practices like this became commonplace. This of course raises the issue of where do we draw the line because I am not morally opposed to current modern medicine, which also increases lifespans, so I can’t give you a really good reason yet why your suggestion feels wrong while modern medicine feels okay. I’ll have to think about that for a while.

Although I have wished often that I could have a new body, I don’t think I would actually opt to have my brain placed in a different body, either. My body is part of who I am.

No brain transplant. People completely overlook the crucial role the body plays in personality. If you only transplant your brain, you’ll lose half of who you are. Organs—sure.

Nope. Not at all interested.

I don’t see any particular problem with it – no conscious being suffers, and I get to live longer, so why not?

Why does the clone have to be incubated in a cow?

Yes, I’d definitely have a customized body harvested for my brain to transplant into. Yippeeee!
Better yet to be able to keep the bovine host’s body to roast for a picnic party.

Hey, that’s what I’ll bring to the Golden Gate Park fluther potluck :D

Hells yeah. There can be solutions to anything even overcrowding and medical mishaps in doing this. I’m assuming all the engineering has been worked out so parts don’t just fall off or go mustang on us. I have some pretty fuck up parts that need uprading now.