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“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”
This quote from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein showcases the misplaced, wayward desire of Dr. Victor Frankenstein–a man who wanted to harness the power of life itself. In his obsession with creating life, he crossed both moral and natural boundaries. Whether it was gathering human remains from cemeteries and slaughterhouses, or the way he treated human bodies like mechanical parts to be used for his experiment, the end results were depravity, desecration, and destruction.
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Franken-Science and Transhumanism
Though Frankenstein was written over 200 years ago, its relevance is greater than ever in today’s world. Scientists, medical experts, biotech engineers, geneticists, and AI gurus are aligning with the ever-growing idea of creating humans who break the boundaries. This not-so-fringe movement is known as transhumanism, and the goals are to use technology and science to overcome biological limitations in order to transform the human condition.
Transhumanists foresee a future where humans can reverse or eliminate the aging process, eradicate disease, drastically enhance cognition and sensory abilities, and even defeat death.
The core innovations that are being used to realize this dream are nanotechnology, biotech, brain implants, stem cell therapy, gene editing, mRNA-based tech, cryogenics, robotics, and AI. Like Dr. Frankenstein, who stitched together one body part at a time, all of these things are merging simultaneously at breakneck speed.
Headless Humans Used for Spare Parts
As the transhumanism movement burgeons, its macabre nature is being revealed. Some developments, however, are more disturbing than others. Propped up by billionaire-backed companies, the latest venture in this twisted science saga aims to create “headless humans” that can be used as sources for tissues and organs, as well as specimens for drug testing and development. These lab-grown, “spare” human bodies known as bodyoids would be engineered from human stem cells.
While bodyoids aren’t a reality yet, a San Francisco-based company known as R3 Bio hopes to get the ball rolling. They have lofty expectations centered around creating “non-sentient organ sacks,” which would include all human organs except the brain. By leaving out the brain, they believe this would remove ethical barriers because “organ sacks” (headless human bodies with organs) are incapable of consciousness or feeling pain.
Henry Greely, a bioethicist at Stanford University, has written about the possibility of using bodyoids. He emphasizes, “If you make a living entity without a brain at all, I think we’d be pretty comfortable with thinking it can’t feel pain. It’s highly possible that none of this will ever work, but it’s also possible that it could.” Greely notes that the concept itself is “unsettling” and the “yuck factor” would be strong, adding that it “depends in part on what any resulting things look like and how they behave.”
Defying Aging and Death
Boyang Wang, the CEO of Immortal Dragons, a Singapore-based longevity fund that has invested in R3 Bio and other companies that aim to defy death and aging, states, “We think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body…If we can create a non-sentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs.” The philosophy of Immortal Dragons is that aging and death are “not immutable destinies,” but merely “technical challenges that can be addressed through scientific breakthroughs.”
R3 Bio co-founder and CEO Alice Gilman suggests that bodyoids could help researchers see how drugs affect the human body “en masse and all at once.” She specifies, “The human body is not a collection of parts; it’s a system. We can’t keep studying diseases in pieces and hoping the results will scale.”
Gilman clarified that bodyoids (lab-grown, headless human body systems) have not been created yet, but stem cell and gene editing technologies could be utilized to possibly make their development a reality. If these headless, brainless “organ sacks” are in fact made, the organs could be used for transplants, which would extend human life.
Will R3 Bio, or other interested companies, be able to make their morbid visions materialize? That remains to be seen, but the idea that headless humans could be created from human stem cells and genetic engineering makes one wonder if the technology should be called Franken-science. A headless body used for spare parts reeks of the grave even when its champions claim that it could help humans defy death. The idea that a brainless body is “more ethical” ignores the unethical issues surrounding human stem cells and genetically modifying the human body. While there are altruistic goals for some, the truth is that mankind is obsessed with overcoming the state of death, whether it be through lab-grown human bodies or altering the human genome.
Brainless Clones?
The other factor to consider is whether there are even loftier goals at play. The MIT Technology Review recently posted an article that claimed that one of R3 Bio’s founders, John Schloendorn, is also interested in “brainless clones.” An excerpt from the article explains, “Imagine it like this: a baby version of yourself with only enough of a brain structure to be alive in case you ever need a new kidney or liver. Or, alternatively, he has speculated, you might one day get your brain placed into a younger clone. That could be a way to gain a second lifespan through a still hypothetical procedure known as a body transplant.”
The article cites a presentation made by R3 Bio on cloning, which was described by one witness as a “close encounter of the third kind” with “Dr. Strangelove.” When this information came out in an interview, the company and its founder insisted they “never made any statement regarding hypothetical ‘non-sentient human clones’ [that] would be carried by surrogates.” Co-founder Alice Gilman, however, did admit that their “team reserves the right to hold hypothetical futuristic discussions.”
While the MIT Technology Review found “no evidence that R3 Bio has cloned anyone, or even any animal bigger than a rodent,” they claim, “What we did find were documents, additional meeting agendas, and other sources outlining a technical road map for what R3 called ‘body replacement cloning’ in a 2023 letter to supporters.”
Proponents of “bodyoid” technology say that it would eliminate the need for animal testing, which is being slowly phased out in the scientific and medical industry. Drugs, vaccines, and therapies could be tested on these headless organ sacks (bodies) instead of mice and monkeys.
Bodyoids (headless humans) fit hand in glove with the transhumanist agenda, where the goal is to overcome the human condition and death. Dr. Frankenstein didn’t understand the consequences of his actions until it was too late. He was so busy moving forward with his plans to be like God that he left God out of the picture completely.
God created humans in His image. The Grand Designer thoughtfully knit together our genetic blueprint, as well as the intricacies of our body systems. While mankind hopes to rewire and remake the human body, the truth is that God has a much greater plan.
Philippians 3:20-21 reminds believers that God will restore our human bodies.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
1 Corinthians 15:52 reveals an amazing promise to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ instead of man.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Those who are saved by Jesus Christ do not need bodyoids to overcome the human condition because the Lord renews their spirit daily, and ONE DAY HE WILL GLORIFY THEIR BODIES.
Hebrews 9:27 states And just as it is appointed for man to die once, after that comes judgment.
Scientific innovation and transhumanist dreams cannot change this truth. Amazingly, when mankind receives the Truth, the Way, and the Life, they gain the keys to eternal life.
Lord Jesus, we know that mankind yearns to overcome suffering, disease, and human limitations, but using macabre, unethical methods to achieve this is wrong. Transhumanists seek to bypass You as the Creator and Savior, but we pray that they would see their grave error and instead turn to You.
What do you think about headless humans and brainless clones? How are you praying about the transhumanist agenda?
Angela Rodriguez is an author, blogger, and former teacher who studies the signs of the times, as well as the historical and biblical connections between Israel and the United States. You can visit her blogs at 67owls.com and 100trumpets.com. She is also the author of Psalm 91: Under the Wings of Jesus and Hallelujah’s Great Ride. Photo Credit: Nhia Moua on Unsplash.
