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Comment by jwn | Hacker News Reader

The article does mention that, but I don't think simply defining the base of the transplant as the section with the most mass accurately describes the situation. What part of the body defines a person's identity? Is it the head, or the rest of the body? I can see a case where the brain is considered the center of mass (from an operation standpoint).

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Can it be defined as what is being replaced and discarded? When you have a heart transplant, they replace the heart with a new one and discard the old heart. In this case, they're discarding the body, so I see it as a body transplant. As others have noted, mass is meaningless in this context.

Edit: The sources on wikipedia's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_transplant article all call it a head transplant... so, I assume people more knowledgeable than I on the topic have already "talked it out". Head transplant it is!

I like that; and I like defining it as what part goes with the self. Your definition is probably cleaner but I think most of us feel like the "I" goes with the head no matter what else may change.

They also "discard" the dead head... So, I guess no.

They also discard the body of the heart donor.

What's discarded from the donor doesn't really mean much. We don't consider what parts of organ donors' bodies aren't used.

That's exactly my view as well. You don't have a "body minus liver" transplant, you have a liver transplant (i.e. you get a new liver). Here, you get a new body, not a new head, therefore body transplant.

> Can it be defined as what is being replaced and discarded?

From the viewpoint of the patient? Which person is the donor and which is the patient?

Going by center of mass means that for a sufficiently large tumor, you'd be talking about a patient-ectomy.

I think that underscores the point about flexibility in naming operations ;)

Which part stops talking to you, if it loses consciousness and slips into a coma?

That's the part that sues you for malpractice.

At that point, isn't the question whose family sues you for malpractice?

Only if it stays in the coma.

While I agree with you agree with your general argument from an abstract and pedantic point of view, OTOH, I think "head transplant" is a lot cleaner and more convenient to use than "all-of-the-body-except-the-head transplant", without any loss of clarity in practical communication.

At some point, you have to accept that language is meant to be used, and that's more important than being abstractly consistent.

Doesn't it come down to what can be exchanged and retain jwn?

jwn's head on a different body may be taller and slimmer, but the personality remains. It should, in essence, still be "you". Vice versa and we get a completely different person but with about your height and build.

So on that basis I think I prefer to think of body transplant to head transplant.

...maybe. I think we underrate the physicality of our minds. For example, if you transplanted a male head on a female body or vice versa, some personality changes would be expected. Or a male head on a male body with different testosterone levels, for example.

Hm. Never considered a gender swap body, but it raises some interesting questions.

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