Brain transfer tech inspires birthing factories to begin quest for immortality
Einstein. Franklin. Curie. Countless great minds lost to humanity’s greatest flaw: death.
But what if we could save those brains?
Since the early 2020s, venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs have been pouring money into brain transfer research in hopes of curing death. Mind Transference, a state-of-the-art surgical procedure, allows doctors to remove the brain from a dying body and transport it into a healthy one. And following the first successful transfer in 2027, brain transfers are on the rise, and — unsurprisingly — it’s changing the world as we know it.
The high price of immortality
While the cure for death has long plagued doctors and scientists, experts believe that this procedure will maintain the thoughts, ideas, and personality of the original brain, effectively allowing the subject to cheat death. The example most commonly used is “imagine giving Steve Jobs a new lease on life, an 18-year-old body for that brain of his, and an infinite amount of Apple breakthroughs on the horizon.” Of course, that kind of advancement doesn’t come cheap. As of now, the procedure can be done to anyone — well, anyone with a couple of billion dollars on hand.
Mind Transference comes at a high price to the tune of, roughly, $2.5 billion per transfer. And that’s just for the procedure. Patients also need to finance a “vessel,” the body in which the brain is housed. If you’ve got the cash, human farms filled with newborns birthed for the sole purpose of becoming vessels will sell you a brand new home for your brain. But like dealing with a mortgage, fees start piling up. Costs for birth, storage, and maintaining of the stockpiled vessels can cost anywhere from an estimated $10- to $20-million per vessel.
Hey, Ponce de León never said that a drink from the Fountain of Youth would be cheap.
The life of a vessel
Vessels are grown in a laboratory and held in a nutrient bath until the skull is large enough to accommodate a full-grown, adult brain. Vessels used in this process are sedated upon birth, most times before their eyes even open. Those in the industry refer to them as “veal,” in reference to the now-outlawed practice of slaughtering baby calves for meat.
The nutrient bath, which our sources say is a pool of various protein strands and essential vitamins that are pumped in the body via a “consumption mask,” moves the vessel’s body to keep muscles from atrophying. After all, no one wants to pay $20 million for an out-of-shape vessel.
Baby factories and curing the future
However, the procedure is not without its detractors. Many have raised concerns about the ethics of breeding children to become a vessel for the rich. Some groups are calling for these “Baby Factories,” as many activists refer to them, to be shut down.
“It’s against the will of God,” cried Iris Montelo, a protester from Glassboro, NJ. “Whoever engages in Mind Transference should be judged by the lord—if they ever meet their maker!”
Yet while some question the ethics of farming human beings for “vessling,” others favoring the practice say the benefits outweigh the concerns.
“Imagine if Jonas Edward Salk or Edward Jenner could keep curing diseases well into their hundreds, hell, their thousands,” said a brain transfer supporter who wished to remain anonymous. “Mind Transference makes that possible. That’s the type of future I want to live in—that I will live in.”
The vesseling process has had some very dire implications for the subjects, though; with the mature brain not always accepting their immature host. The disconnect between mind and body can be catastrophic. In early tests, an unnamed, 70-year-old subject had a nervous breakdown upon seeing their new 12-year-old body.
Body donations
The cottage industry of human farming has led to another: body donations. Many young, post-graduate job seekers believe that if they donate their young bodies to billionaires, they too will be remembered for ages to come. It’s certainly easier to be the body of someone already successful than to become successful yourself.
“It’s almost like living tribute to yourself,” said Carlito Retta, a donation hopeful. “Imagine my face on the cover of TIME next to the words 'I Cured Cancer.' That sounds pretty cool, even if I’m not there to see it.”
