Cannavaro withdrew from the limelight. But the idea of head transplants is not going away. Instead, he says, the concept has recently been getting a fresh look from life-extension enthusiasts and secretive Silicon Valley startups.
career path
It has become rocky. When he began publishing his surgical ideas a decade ago, Cannavaro says, he got his “pink slip” from Turin’s Molinate Hospital, where he had spent 22 years on the staff. He says, “I’m an out-of-the-establishment guy. So, I have to say this has made things difficult.”
why does he persist
There is no other solution to aging on the horizon. “It’s become quite clear over the years that the idea of some incredible technology to rejuvenate elderly people – that’s happening in some secret lab like Google – is really not going anywhere,” he says. “You have to go for the whole shebang.”
The whole shebang?
That means getting not just a new organ, but a new body. Cannavaro has an easy mastery of English idioms and unexpected Southern style. He says this was due to his childhood fascination with American comics. “For me, it was paramount to learn the language of my heroes,” he says, “so I could shoot the wind.”
cloned bodies
Canavero is now an independent investigator and has advised entrepreneurs who want to create brainless human clones as a source of DNA-matched organs that will not be rejected by the recipient’s immune system. “I can tell you it includes people from top universities,” he says.
what will happen next
Combining the necessary technologies, such as reliably precise surgical robots and artificial wombs, to develop clones is going to be complex and very, very expensive. Cannavaro lacks the funds to carry his plans forward, but believes “the money is there” for a commercial moonshot project: “What I say to billionaires is ‘Come together.’ You all will get your share, and will make yourselves immortal.”
