Can you transplant a head to another body? - Max G. Levy

翻译人员: Liwen Huang 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

On March 14th, 1970, Robert White and his team carted two small monkeys

1970 年 3 月 14 日，罗伯特·怀特（Robert White） 和他的团队将两只小猴子

into an operating room.

送进了手术室。

The neurosurgeon lay on the verge of an ambitious experiment,

神经外科医生即将进行一项雄心勃勃的实验，

decades in the making, which was bizarre,

一项已经进行了几十年的实验。 这项实验很是怪异，

if not pulled straight from his own fever dream.

像是直接从他自己的发烧梦中抽出来的。

White’s objective?

怀特的目标？

Connect the head of Monkey A to the body of Monkey B,

将猴子 A 的头部 与猴子 B 的身体连接起来，

in what he considered a whole-body transplant.

他认为这是一种全身移植。

White’s ultimate goal was to one day perform this surgery on humans.

怀特的最终目标是 有朝一日对人类进行这种手术。

While disturbing, the idea of a body transplant

尽管令人不安，但人体移植的想法

raises ethical, biological, and philosophical questions—

引发了伦理、生物学和哲学问题，

on the nature of life and the limits of science—

即生命的本质和科学的局限性，

that are still discussed today.

这些问题至今仍在讨论。

But first, is it even medically possible?

但首先，这在医学上甚至可能吗？

White's surgery faced several technical hurdles.

怀特的手术面临几个技术障碍。

For one thing, it guaranteed paralysis

首先，瘫痪是必然的，

as no doctor then— or now— could reconnect a severed spinal cord.

无论是在当时还是现在， 都没有医生能够重新连接被切断的脊髓。

But White, a practicing neurosurgeon,

但是执业神经外科医生怀特认为

thought the surgery could be life-saving

这种手术可以挽救脊髓损伤病人或

for his patients with spinal cord injuries or progressive mobility diseases like ALS.

进行性活动性疾病 如肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）患者的生命。

These patients often face multi-organ failures and paralysis,

这些患者经常面临多器官衰竭和瘫痪，

so with a body transplant,

因此，通过身体移植，

he hoped to save their lives by replacing all of their organs at once.

他希望通过同时更换所有器官 来挽救他们的生命。

But paralysis wasn't the only challenge.

但是瘫痪并不是唯一的挑战。

Due to their high energy demands,

由于其高能量需求，

brain cells require a constant supply of oxygenated blood to survive.

脑细胞需要持续的含氧血液供给才能存活。

Yet the transplant surgery would likely interrupt the brain’s oxygen flow

然而，移植手术可能会使大脑的氧气流动

for hours.

中断数小时。

But White had an idea.

但是怀特有个主意。

When the brain is cold,

当大脑温度低时，

its metabolism slows down and it relies less on oxygen.

其新陈代谢会减慢， 对氧气的依赖也会降低。

Experimenting on dogs and monkeys,

怀特对狗和猴子进行了实验，

White optimized a brain-cooling technique

优化了一项大脑冷却技术，

where the brain’s blood flow was selectively chilled and halted,

让大脑的血液流动被选择性地冷却并停止，

while the rest of the body’s blood remained warm and circulated.

而人体其余的血液则保持温暖并循环。

Then, in 1964, White successfully cooled the brain of a human patient

然后，在 1964 年，怀特成功地

with a life-threatening brain tumor into “suspended animation” at 11°C.

将一名患有危及生命的脑瘤病人的大脑 冷却到 11°C 的 “暂停状态”。

Whereas normally the surgical team would have just 3 to 5 minutes

通常情况下，外科团队只有 3 到 5 分钟的时间

to remove the tumor,

切除肿瘤，

with this new technique,

而使用这项新技术，

they operated for over an hour without causing damage.

他们手术了一个多小时也没有造成损伤。

Brain cooling revolutionized the field of neurosurgery

大脑冷却技术彻底改变了神经外科领域，

and put White one step closer to his body transplant goal.

使怀特离他的身体移植目标又近了一步。

But this vision was fraught with serious ethical concerns.

但是这一愿景充满了严重的伦理问题。

What conditions would justify such an experimental surgery,

什么条件可以证明

that could result in debilitating pain and neurological damage?

这么一项可能导致虚弱性疼痛和 神经损伤的实验性手术是合理的？

And how many animals would have to die to prove it was possible?

还得死多少动物才能证明 这项手术是可能的？

At the time, bioethics was still an emerging field.

当时，生物伦理学仍然是一个新兴领域。

Nevertheless, numerous critics, including many in the scientific community,

尽管如此，许多批评者， 包括许多科学界的批评者，

recognized the cruelty of White's research and strongly opposed it.

都意识到怀特的研究是残酷的， 并强烈反对他的研究。

Yet White continued to gain approval from agencies like the NIH.

然而，怀特继续获得了 美国全国卫生研究所（NIH）等机构的批准。

And by 1970, he was ready to attempt a monkey body transplant.

到 1970 年，他已经准备好尝试猴体移植了。

First Monkey A was installed with temporary blood vessels—

首先，给猴子 A 安装临时血管，

coils of plastic tubes that tethered the head to the body.

即连接头部与身体的塑料管。

Plastic tube by plastic tube, the team connected Body B to Head A,

研究小组用塑料管将身体B连接到头部A，

and then waited for the subject to awake from anesthesia.

然后等待实验对象从麻醉中醒来。

The monkey did— alive, paralyzed, and extremely distressed.

那只猴子活着，瘫痪了，非常痛苦。

According to the team, the monkey could see, smell, hear,

根据研究小组的说法， 猴子能看到、闻到、听到，

and even tried to bite off one of the doctors’ fingers.

甚至试图咬掉医生的一根手指，

White felt this proved that the operation could work.

怀特认为这证明手术行得通。

The brain appeared to survive a head transplant

大脑似乎在头部移植后幸存下来 ，

and, with high doses of drugs, could live without immune rejection.

如果使用高剂量的药物， 可以在没有免疫排斥反应的情况下存活。

But had White performed a body transplant on Monkey A?

但是怀特对猴子 A 进行了身体移植吗？

Or was it a head transplant on Monkey B?

还是对猴子 B 进行了头部移植？

The surgery raises questions about the mind-body divide

该手术引出了身心差别的问题，

that have been debated for millennia.

这些问题已经争论了数千年。

While modern neuroscience supports the central role of the brain

虽然现代神经科学支持

in building out our consciousness,

大脑在建立我们的意识中的核心作用，

discoveries about gut neurons and the microbiome

但是肠道神经元 和微生物群系的相关发现表明

suggest that the answer may be more complicated.

答案可能更为复杂。

Does part of the “self” reside outside of the mind?

“自我” 的一部分是否存在于心灵之外？

The body and brain are interconnected by circuits and signaling systems;

身体和大脑通过电路和信号系统相互连接；

so, what is lost by separating the two?

那么，将两者分开会损失什么？

As a neurosurgeon, White performed more than 10,000 brain operations

作为一名神经外科医生， 怀特在 1998 年退休之前

before retiring in 1998—

进行了超过一万次脑部手术，

but never the human head transplant he dreamed of.

但从未进行过他梦寐以求的人头移植手术。

Since then, several scientists have expressed interest in picking up

从那时起，几位科学家表示有兴趣

where White left off, reviving unfinished debates.

从怀特停下的地方继续， 再次展开未结束的辩论。

Even if a doctor could successfully connect a patient’s head

即使医生能够成功地将患者的头部

to a donor’s body,

连接到捐献者的身体，

who of the two would emerge?

两者中谁会出现？

And is extending a life always worth the cost?

而且延长寿命总是值得付出的代价吗？