On March 25, a Georgian-language Facebook account published a video discussing how a scientist created the first prototype of a human body, named Oscar. The video claims that this prototype was developed by Cornelis Vlasman and that Oscar is a living, modular robot that breathes and moves. The robot’s parts are connected to each other and linked to an electronic device that operates Oscar’s heart, lungs, kidneys, and limbs while blood flows through its veins. The video further asserts that soon, it will be possible to create organs using a 3D printer, allowing people to replace their natural organs with artificial ones.
This video, with identical claims, has been repeatedly shared by Russian-language accounts over the years.
The claim that a scientist created the human prototype shown in the video – Oscar – is false. In reality, the video and the entire project are part of a sci-fi story that depicts a near future where the human body is no longer a closed circuit but a modular form of life.
The video circulating on social media was first uploaded online on April 14, 2016, on the Facebook account “The Modular Body,” and a day later, on April 15, it was published on YouTube on an account named “Cornelis Vlasman.” The description of “The Modular Body” states that it is “an online SciFi story about a near future where the body is not a closed circuit, but a modular lifeform.” The page also includes a link leading to a website of the same name, where it is explicitly mentioned that the published videos are part of a sci-fi story about a creation called Oscar, a living organism made from human cells. The protagonist of the story is biologist Cornelis Vlasman, who, along with a few like-minded individuals, establishes an independent laboratory where he conducts experiments on organic materials using his own resources.
The website credits Floris Kaayk as the director and screenwriter. In an interview, Kaayk discusses his projects, revealing that he uses science fiction to create stories that he believes could become reality in the future. He states that if humanity ever manages to create modular organisms like Oscar, people will have the ability to replace their organs indefinitely.
The claim that the video contains real footage was fact-checked by the American fact-checking organization Snopes in 2016. The article includes an interview with Kaayk, in which he states that creating a being like Oscar is currently impossible, as we are at least 30-40 years away from being able to 3D-print functioning, vascularized organs. The director also noted that while considering this topic, he came up with the idea that if artificial organ creation became possible, it wouldn’t necessarily have to replicate the exact shape of natural human organs. Moreover, he believes that at that stage, we should improve upon them and redesign the human body in a way that makes it easier to “repair.” This led him to develop the modular body system shown in the video, which he thinks has great potential for adaptability and immortality.
About the Source:
One of the Facebook accounts spreading the video of the robot with misleading descriptions is Евгения Иванова [Evgeniya Ivanova], a frequent disseminator of disinformation. Many of her posts have been flagged by various fact-checking organizations, including Myth Detector.
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