OK, it is a premise of a new SF novel. The book description does not look too promising, though I guess I should read it for professional reasons (I put it on my amazon wish-list for now):
Last call from Earth -Stage I, Biological Survival (also available for download on Lulu.com).
This is what Newswire says about it:
Successful Soul Transplant Operation Featured in New Sci-Fi Book 'Last call from Earth'Soul transplant operation is the last recourse for human survival in new trilogy, Last call from Earth - People affected with CRDS loose their DNA controls and become repugnant: The body becomes an uncontrollable mess. There is no cure for CRDS.
In Last call from Earth science-fiction trilogy, Al Herr presents a saga of biological survival where the DNA looses its guidance and control function. People affected with CRDS (Circadian Rhythm Degeneration Syndrome) become physically, emotionally and mentally deformed and grotesque; little girls under five loose all their ovules in a menstrual flush; millions become morbidly obese, reaching over 2,000 pounds.
The circadian rhythm dates back billions of years and served as the basis for the primitive organisms to begin functioning, progressively, into more complex states. This rhythm enables the biochemistry of our bodies to run on time and in a pre-established order. In the human body, this rhythm is orchestrated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, in the brain. It controls our temperature cycle and the secretion of hormones.
The circadian rhythm regulates biological activities that are linked to a 24-hour cycle, like brain wave activity, cell regeneration, and hormone reproduction. If the cell regeneration cycle doesn't work properly, the body retains its old cells while new ones are created, and consequently the body gains weight.
It is impossible for a human body to weigh 2,000 pounds. The heart cannot pump enough blood to maintain such a body; the bones cannot sustain such a weight...But with CRDS, of the air that we breathe and normally expel from the lungs, minuscule drops of oxygen get into all the cells of the body, which becomes like a balloon; literally, people with CRDS float.
Being out of control of the basic body functions creates problems not proper to mention, but that you can imagine. Without an internal biological clock functioning properly, we have little girls under the age of five who lose all their ovules in a single menstrual flush and never menstruate again. Not maintaining a steady chemistry in the brain, there are cases of people that talk nonsense without stopping, unable to maintain the focus of their attention, wandering from one thought to another without control.
Mary's Plight, affected with CRDS
"I believe I am, or I feel like I am anyway, the fattest person alive. I am 1,984 pounds. I have a bed that was made especially for me. I live on it; literally speaking. It's a combination bed, toilet, and shower--all in one. I have fecal and urinary incontinence. I don't want to embarrass myself with details, but you can imagine. Fortunately, if I could say that, I just push a button and the entire bed gets showered, flushed, and cleaned up (including me). Why did I get to be like this? What did I do? Is this a punishment? What could I have done that was so bad? I have hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, gallbladder disease, diabetes type 2, rheumatoid arthritis, vertebral disk herniation, and impotence (am I kidding? I am a female, 38, who would ever want me?). My periods are irregular. They last for weeks, very fluid, or none at all, for months. What keeps my body going? Why I don't just die? What's wrong with dying anyway? Am I a human being? If you only knew how it feels..."
There is no cure for CRDS. The only solution is to transplant the soul to a healthy body. How is that possible? How is a soul transplant done? What happens to the soul that is in the healthy body before the transplant? What happens to you? Are you the same as before, with all your memories and your future?
Find out in Last call from Earth -Stage I, Biological Survival.
For information on the Last call from Earth trilogy visit the book's web site: Last call from Earth
About the Author
Al Herr is the pen name of Alberto Herrera-Guzman. Herrera-Guzman studied philosophy at the universities of San Carlos, Guatemala, Madrid and Navarre, Spain, and mathematics-computer sciences at New York University. He provides consulting services in information technologies, focused on the integration of systems that run in multiple environments. He has provided consulting services in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Far East.
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You probably don't have to read it after all. As soon as a title delves into "soul transplant" technology, it's in the realm of fantasy.
FTL travel is orders of magnitude more likely than the existence of a soul. (Actually, AFAICT, it's infinitely more likely.)
Speaking as someone who read several SF novels a week for most of childhood (though I read very little SF now...), it sounds like a really bad book.
If you are really determined, I reccomend you strap yourself into a chair, so the random outbursts from hilariously bad science do not throw you to the floor.
Not to mention a press release written by someone who doesn't know the difference between "loose" and "lose". One can only hope the book had a better editor.
Well, it didn't seem odd to me. Bilateral SCN damage is cured only by SCN transplants and you 'may' call them souls. As an SF its okay.