face is the place

Great article in the New York Times today about the debate sparked by the face transplant in France...

Some quotes:

"Mr. Westerfeld said...'There will come a day when having extreme cosmetic surgery will be like buying a $1,000 Gucci bag, an indication that you are a member of the privileged class.' "

"As Hanif Kureishi has his hero observe in 'The Body,' his 2004 novel about a 60-year-old writer whose brain is transferred into the fresh corpse of a young man, 'It seems logical that technology and medical capability only need to catch up with the human imagination or will.' "

"There is increasing acceptance that 'as human beings we get to choose who we are,' he [Westerfield] said. 'And the line between what you get to choose and don't choose is moving all the time.' "

"Off screen, in real life, some argue, a medical procedure that necessarily tampers with identity might take an unacceptable psychic toll. 'The implications are shudder-worthy,' said the writer Daphne Merkin. 'Can you borrow someone else's features and still be you?' "


Read the full article here. If you don't have a NYTimes membership, msg me and I'll send you my pword.