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We are on the verge of being able to replicate organs at scale. I think that that harvesting them from donors who have destroyed their brains in vehicular acci

We are on the verge of being able to replicate organs at scale. I think that that harvesting them from donors who have destroyed their brains in vehicular accidents is just an unfortunate but necessary stepping stone.

agumonkey 10y ago
True, I had to check the article wasn't from theonion..
- mikeash 10y ago
  Why? It's not as if they're saying that self-driving cars are terrible and should be banned because of this. They're merely identifying a non-obvious problem that will result from self-driving cars, and discussing potential fixes. It seems obvious that the tradeoff will be a huge net positive, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the negative parts.
  - agumonkey 10y ago
    It's just it's so obvious I don't see the need for reporting. What about vaccines or hygiene notes ? They avoided millions of new "organ donors" too.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      It never occurred to me, and the solutions are far from obvious. I doubt that vaccines or hygiene had much of an impact. Being an organ donor is not really compatible with death by disease, which tends to wreck the whole body. Organ donation requires being killed while leaving most of your body largely intact. Violent deaths involving the brain are good candidate, thus why motorcycles are so "popular" among transplant surgeons.
gozur88 10y ago
We've been on that "verge" for three decades if you bought into the hype, and it's going to be a couple more decades before synthetic kidneys, livers, and hearts hit the clinic.
amorphid 10y ago
I went to the past show put on by Eureka Comedy in SF [1][2]. The speaker said that a type of artificial pancreas now in testing is more efficient than a healthy pancreas. If that is correct, it might become the norm at some point to just swap out natural organs for synthetic ones, at least for those who can afford it. Maybe organ collection and distribution will become a function of Goodwill Industries as people donate their original natural organs. [1] http://www.eurekacomedy.com http://www.eurekacomedy.com [2] https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eureka-tickets-26689373635 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eureka-tickets-26689373635
- manmal 10y ago
  Does the artificial pancreas only produce insulin when blood sugar rises, or does it also secrete digestive juices and sodium bicarbonate? If the former, then it's surely not desirable yet to exchange a healthy pancreas for it. Similar to taking out the gallbladder if you don't have any stones. Digestion just works better with the real deal.
  - amorphid 10y ago
    If I understand it correctly, the pancreas releases insulin to lower blood sugar, but it can also release insulin when you don't have a need. Like you might experience an insulin spike when thinking about eating a tasty dessert, but are not actually consuming the dessert. An artificial pancreas relies on monitoring actual blood sugar levels. It can also proactively address low blood sugar. The speaker mentioned getting a text when her diabetic son's blood sugar was low, and so she called the son's babysitter with instructions to give the son some crackers. I've never received a text message from my pancreas, or any other organ in my body.

agumonkey 10y ago

True, I had to check the article wasn't from theonion..

mikeash 10y ago
Why? It's not as if they're saying that self-driving cars are terrible and should be banned because of this. They're merely identifying a non-obvious problem that will result from self-driving cars, and discussing potential fixes. It seems obvious that the tradeoff will be a huge net positive, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the negative parts.
- agumonkey 10y ago
  It's just it's so obvious I don't see the need for reporting. What about vaccines or hygiene notes ? They avoided millions of new "organ donors" too.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    It never occurred to me, and the solutions are far from obvious. I doubt that vaccines or hygiene had much of an impact. Being an organ donor is not really compatible with death by disease, which tends to wreck the whole body. Organ donation requires being killed while leaving most of your body largely intact. Violent deaths involving the brain are good candidate, thus why motorcycles are so "popular" among transplant surgeons.

gozur88 10y ago

We've been on that "verge" for three decades if you bought into the hype, and it's going to be a couple more decades before synthetic kidneys, livers, and hearts hit the clinic.

amorphid 10y ago

I went to the past show put on by Eureka Comedy in SF [1][2]. The speaker said that a type of artificial pancreas now in testing is more efficient than a healthy pancreas. If that is correct, it might become the norm at some point to just swap out natural organs for synthetic ones, at least for those who can afford it. Maybe organ collection and distribution will become a function of Goodwill Industries as people donate their original natural organs. [1] http://www.eurekacomedy.com http://www.eurekacomedy.com [2] https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eureka-tickets-26689373635 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eureka-tickets-26689373635

manmal 10y ago
Does the artificial pancreas only produce insulin when blood sugar rises, or does it also secrete digestive juices and sodium bicarbonate? If the former, then it's surely not desirable yet to exchange a healthy pancreas for it. Similar to taking out the gallbladder if you don't have any stones. Digestion just works better with the real deal.
- amorphid 10y ago
  If I understand it correctly, the pancreas releases insulin to lower blood sugar, but it can also release insulin when you don't have a need. Like you might experience an insulin spike when thinking about eating a tasty dessert, but are not actually consuming the dessert. An artificial pancreas relies on monitoring actual blood sugar levels. It can also proactively address low blood sugar. The speaker mentioned getting a text when her diabetic son's blood sugar was low, and so she called the son's babysitter with instructions to give the son some crackers. I've never received a text message from my pancreas, or any other organ in my body.