A brain pod is a fictional device, built from high tech materials, for storing and maintaining the central nervous system. It is an extension of the philosophical brain-in-a-vat scenario commonly used by interface designers for examining user-centric interfaces. It has a history in popular culture, appearing in numerous Hollywood movies including Disney's A Man With Two Brains and Matt Groening's Futurama. The brain pod also appears in numerous science fiction movies, video games, comic books and related media.

A brain pod, or a self-contained perpetuating central nervous system sustainment device, begins with radical brain surgery based on a procedure called whole-body transplant attempted on rhesus monkeys in the mid 1970s. The world's first successful brain transplant, in which a brain was transplanted from one rhesus monkey to another, was not successful in reconnecting the spinal cord, but the reconnection of 7 major arteries and veins permitted the monkey brain to survive intact, despite the fact that it could not manipulate a body. It stayed alive for 3 days before the brain was disconnected.

The brain pod also relies on several synthetic blood and plasma replacements, an oxygenator and a multi-channel computer-controlled superfusion system for intravenous, real-time monitored and adjusted oxygenated nutrient supply.

Advancements in biology, neuroscience, medical science and chemistry suggest that, with proper supply of nutrients and oxygen, an artificial circulatory system can be manufactured and, with regularly scheduled maintenance, perpetuated for the lifetime of the brain's neurological function. This should be considered an emergent field of research, and relies on several recent innovations such as the brain-computer interface, to be properly implemented.

This is an early-stage technology, popularized as the nefarious solution of the computer in the 2000 movie The Matrix. While its application is similar to that of a heart-lung machine, its goal is not to keep a patient alive and bedridden, but is instead designed to replace the body and perpetuate the brain and medula oblongata, providing an interface to external stimulation and manipulation of prosthesis, such as prosthetic body.

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Original VSOG proposal for "alternative to conventional funeral service"