As Get Out makes movie history with 160 million dollars in ticket sales, the idea of brain and head transplants doesn’t seem like anything but a horror film plot line. But as science progresses, and since transplants come in all shapes, sizes, and body parts, the idea is not too far out of the picture.

A man from Russia, who suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease, volunteered to be the first patient to receive the supposedly fictional surgery. Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease, though extremely rare, leaves people confined to a wheelchair; limbs are shriveled, and movements are essentially limited to feeding themselves and minimal typing. This is caused by the disease as it breaks down muscles and kills nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that help move the body. The volunteer, Valery Spiridonov, has a functioning brain and head and will have it placed upon another human body. Spiridonov hopes to receive the surgery, but it will only be possible once another body comes into the scene. The family of a young brain-dead male will need to release the body for the surgery. After a body is found and permission from the family is granted, the doctors can begin the procedure.

The two doctors, one from Italy and the other from China, plan to perform the operation of the first human head transplant as early as this year. Neuroscientist Dr. Sergio Canavero made news last year when he first announced his plans for the operation. His fellow surgeon, Dr. Xiaoping Ren, is new to the team but has already seen the backlash following the controversy of the surgery.

The surgery will take 80 surgeons and tens of millions of dollars. Though Canavero and Ren say that there is a 90% percent chance of survival for Spiridonov, other scientists say that the risk is too much to even attempt. Audrey Thompson, an Air Academy Senior, feels that this surgery is not right by any means. “You only have an hour to transplant the head into the new body before the person becomes brain dead, and the first face transplant took over 2 days to complete, so it’s not even realistic. Second, of all, it’s ethically wrong, considering you have a right to your body, and there are all sorts of reproduction issues since the body/reproductive system isn’t his; the ethics have to be considered so we keep medicine humane and refrain from experimenting cruelly like the Nazis did. Third of all, it’s literally not natural; your mind is so connected to your body and putting a head onto another body is going to mess up your mind-body-soul connection,” stated Audrey.

In fact, many other people speculate not just the unrealistic science behind it, but the ethics behind the surgery. Today, with modern society, with modern medicine, humans have seen cancer cured, organ donors, arm transplants, and the growth of human heart tissue from spinach. This leaves the question: when will science no longer just be science and cross over into toying with the role of God? Even placing religion aside, playing the role of Mother Nature?

The human race fell victim to plagues in almost every century until modern medicine came into the picture. A small case of the flu could have ended the life of early American settlers, while today it doesn’t even keep kids home from school or out of participating in gym class. We plead to keep the Earth healthy and away from pollution, but perhaps the real pollution is the human race. We have eliminated so many forms of natural selection, making us quite the advanced race. Humans have reached the top of the totem pole, and it seems that the only thing that can take us down are just natural flaws. Flaws that we continue to erase from the view.

Science continues to prosper, and I shall continue to support this, but I worry that the line between curative science and experimental science will become blurry. We no longer die by nature’s terms, but ours instead. With the attempt of this head transplant, the doors have been opened to the science of the future, and this leaves far more concern in my mind about the direction of humanity.

To read more about the first head transplant visit this site: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-man-volunteers-for-first-human-head-transplant/