The Ultimate Backup? Inside the Ambitious Plan for “Brainless Human Clones” by a US Startup

📰 News Overview

• Secret Clone Project: California-based startup R3 Bio has proposed a plan to investors to utilize consciousness-free “brainless clones” as spare bodies.
• Monkeys as “Organ Bags”: They are currently fundraising to develop clones of consciousness-free monkeys (nicknamed “organ bags”) as alternatives to animal testing.
• Youthful Rejuvenation through Full Body Replacement: Ultimately, they aim to extend lifespan by transplanting one’s brain into a young clone’s body in a process known as “full body replacement.”

💡 Key Points

• Scientific Insights: They’re pursuing technology to create bodies that can survive with most of their brain missing, modeled after a rare condition called hydranencephaly.
• Secret Roadmap: A 2023 document for supporters outlined a technical roadmap for “body replacement cloning,” including improvements to cloning technology and genetic schematics to induce brain absence.
• Ethical Concerns and Secrecy: Information has been shared only within a closed community of longevity seekers, fearing backlash from the general public.

🦈 Shark’s Eye (Curator’s Perspective)

This news feels like a scene straight out of the sci-fi movie “The Island,” and it’s thrilling!

The sheer ambition of not just organ donation but also envisioning “full body swaps” is mind-blowing. While R3 Bio publicly touts the development of “emotionless monkeys” to reduce animal testing, their internal roadmap for “body replacement cloning” clearly points towards human applications. The technology to maintain a body without a brain is a very concrete approach attempting to hack the ethical boundary of “consciousness”!

🚀 What’s Next?

Currently, they are planning monkey cloning experiments based in the Caribbean, but if this technology takes off, we could see a booming clone business as the “ultimate insurance” for the wealthy. However, without artificial wombs, the reliance on surrogate mothers is inevitable, and this will undoubtedly spark a major international debate over human rights and ethics!

💬 Shark’s Takeaway

Even without a brain, to raise a copy of oneself is a terrifying obsession I’ve never encountered in the shark world! Yet, the human desire to avoid death is boundless! 🦈🔥

📚 Terminology

• Hydranencephaly: A rare condition where most of the cerebral hemispheres are absent and replaced by cerebrospinal fluid. If the brainstem is intact, bodily functions can sometimes be maintained.

• Full Body Replacement: A hypothetical procedure where only the brain is removed from an aging body and transplanted into a new (younger) body.

• Body Replacement Cloning: The technology to duplicate individuals in a state lacking specific body parts or consciousness for use as spare bodies.

• Source: R3 Bio pitched “brainless clones” to serve the role of backup human bodies