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While a logically sound solution, the issue with this is that the second / third generation would not have committed to the trip and would want to produce their

While a logically sound solution, the issue with this is that the second / third generation would not have committed to the trip and would want to produce their own offspring as opposed to those of someone else. I have to imagine being born on a ship and being told that your grandparents signed you up to live and die on it for a science experiment would potentially cause a psychological aversion to wanting to follow the rules set down a generation before regarding sex and procreation.

robotomir 8y ago
How difficult is it to produce an artificial womb? Very difficult, would be my guess, and morally ambiguous to produce humans without parents, but is it possible?
- majewsky 8y ago
  > How difficult is it to produce an artifical womb? Artificial wombs are already a thing: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-womb-baby-lamb-raises-hope-for-premature-babies/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-womb-baby-lamb-raise... Now granted, this technology up there is only intended for premature births, i.e. the fetus continues to grow in the artificial womb after birth. But with the technology for IVF covering the first phase of gestation, and this artificial womb covering the last phase, the gap between both appears to be shrinking. IANAD (I'm not a doctor) though, so take this with a grain of salt.
seiferteric 8y ago
Well I guess you could select only female offspring if you were fully committed to this idea.
ams6110 8y ago
I doubt it. Kids adapt to the environment they are born into, and it's not like they would have experienced anything else, and they wouldn't know anyone else who had either, except for people in the original generation.
seanalltogether 8y ago
My first thoughts while reading this article was this exact issue. Are there any good sci-fi books or movies that explore this concept of what it might be like to be a middle generation on the way to a new solar system? You have little attachment to the original mission that your great-grandparents signed up for, and you'll never live long enough to see your destination.
- perl4ever 8y ago
  Seems plausible to me that after the society and its people had adapted to living in deep space, they might end up simply never landing anywhere. Or finding a rogue planet and burrowing in because stars are too volatile and dangerous.
kjeetgill 8y ago
That's the easy part, gender is determined by the sperm. You can select the sex of your offspring when doing IVF today [0]. You just don't produce males until you've arrived at your destination. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_sorting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_sorting

robotomir 8y ago

How difficult is it to produce an artificial womb? Very difficult, would be my guess, and morally ambiguous to produce humans without parents, but is it possible?

majewsky 8y ago
> How difficult is it to produce an artifical womb? Artificial wombs are already a thing: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-womb-baby-lamb-raises-hope-for-premature-babies/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artificial-womb-baby-lamb-raise... Now granted, this technology up there is only intended for premature births, i.e. the fetus continues to grow in the artificial womb after birth. But with the technology for IVF covering the first phase of gestation, and this artificial womb covering the last phase, the gap between both appears to be shrinking. IANAD (I'm not a doctor) though, so take this with a grain of salt.

seiferteric 8y ago

Well I guess you could select only female offspring if you were fully committed to this idea.

ams6110 8y ago

I doubt it. Kids adapt to the environment they are born into, and it's not like they would have experienced anything else, and they wouldn't know anyone else who had either, except for people in the original generation.

seanalltogether 8y ago

My first thoughts while reading this article was this exact issue. Are there any good sci-fi books or movies that explore this concept of what it might be like to be a middle generation on the way to a new solar system? You have little attachment to the original mission that your great-grandparents signed up for, and you'll never live long enough to see your destination.

perl4ever 8y ago
Seems plausible to me that after the society and its people had adapted to living in deep space, they might end up simply never landing anywhere. Or finding a rogue planet and burrowing in because stars are too volatile and dangerous.

kjeetgill 8y ago

That's the easy part, gender is determined by the sperm. You can select the sex of your offspring when doing IVF today [0]. You just don't produce males until you've arrived at your destination. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_sorting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_sorting