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Startups Flock to Turn Young Blood into an Elixir of Youth
- mothsonasloth 8y agoImagine a dystopian future where there is vampires. The vampires being super wealthy individuals who have resorted to feeding on the young and vulnerable. Sending out blood hunters to grab people and then drain them. Others prefer the convenience of an ontap blood donor, living in their houses and being well looked after. Peter Thiel will have founded another company called Blód which he manages from his real life reconstruction of Orthanc. There he uses data crunching to source the healthiest and most vulnerable blood donors.
- ionised 8y ago> Imagine a dystopian future where there is vampires. The vampires being super wealthy individuals who have resorted to feeding on the young and vulnerable. This is already the case.
- nannal 8y agoWhy would there be blood hunters? Just let the indebted young sell their blood for pennies and they'll jump at the idea.
- taway_1212 8y agoAm I not mistaken that in the US it's already common to get paid for blood donations? (Here, in Poland, you only got a couple bars of chocolate for it). So, people in the US are already ok with selling their flesh (at least the part that does it for money, and not to help others).
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- nordsieck 8y ago> Am I not mistaken that in the US it's already common to get paid for blood donations? My understanding is that it in the US, it is common to be paid for blood plasma, but highly uncommon (I've never heard of it happening) to be paid for blood.
- bambax 8y agoHorrible idea in reality, but fantastic idea for a book!!
- Grangar 8y agoBarad-Dûr sounds more like Thiel's thing.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoThere he uses data crunching to source the healthiest and most vulnerable blood donors. This is a plot hole. Healthiest and most vulnerable are directly at odds. Extreme vulnerability (and poverty) does bad things to one's health. Good health is a good antidote to vulnerability. This is one of those cases where evil is its own solution or antidote because this fundamentally doesn't work, a la "Going to war to preserve the peace is like fucking to preserve virginity."
- awakeasleep 8y agoYou’re overlooking the agency granted by real wealth! The vulnerable needn’t be poor. They only need be situated where the exercise of your power could put them into a position to sell.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoFWIW, I've spent the past few years dirt poor. Feel free to decide if you think that makes my opinion an informed opinion or if it means my bias is showing. :)
- chr1 8y agoThe only thing wrong with vampires is that they unnecessarily kill people, if they used their amazing tallants productively (working as historians, spies, converting people into vampires, or just touring) they would easily earn enough money to buy more blood than they need. (though to be honest even considering their mistakes, they are a nice bunch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv568AzZ-i8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv568AzZ-i8)
- hankhill 8y agoyou silicon valley guys are weird
- ctack 8y agoSlightly horrific and as other comments have suggested - quite dystopian, but the idea that they will surpass the need for actual blood - which they'd need to at scale and for many people ethically - that sounds pretty good.
- marcusKral 8y agoThis path seems fundamentally regressive.
- Gatsky 8y agoBloodtech. This is... dispiriting. The massive concentration of wealth in a few people is going to fuck up the world. This is just the latest sign.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoBad Blood 2: The sequel to the Theranos debacle.
- close04 8y agoIt's only a Theranos sequel if it's a fraud. But even if this is "for real" it's still deeply disturbing. Today... And yet I have to wonder, would future generations see it that way? Was organ transplant considered deeply disturbing 2 centuries ago?
- awakeasleep 8y agoWas there a time when the aged wealthy would buy organs from the poor?
- close04 8y agoToday? Every time since transplants were invented or at least perfected? [0] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-04-18/desperately-poor-filipinos-sell-kidneys/2409350 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-04-18/desperately-poor-filip... [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/01/05/the-market-for-human-organs-is-destroying-lives/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/01/05/...
- dzdt 8y agoThere was such a time for teeth. Read about George Washington's dentures. I like The Oatmeal's take embedded in their explorarion of the backfire effect. [1] But you can go on a google run; it was common for upper class gentlemen at that time to use human teeth in dentures, bought from the poor or even forcibly extracted from slaves. [1] http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe
- nakedrobot2 8y agoAnother prescient episode from Silicon Valley already covered this horribly distopian idea.
- amarant 8y agoam I the only one who thinks this is pretty great? that ambrosia company seems pretty dodgy, but the field overall - who wouldn't wanna cure old age? surprised at all the negativity in this thread... I mean, the blood is harvested today, but someday it's gonna be synthetically produced, probably. you gotta start somewhere!
- jillesvangurp 8y agoNope, looking forward to having some quality of life and increased life span down the road courtesy of some cool biochemical cocktails, dna hackery, and ample supply of spare parts for things that are clearly at risk of needing replacement at some point.
- bambax 8y ago> who wouldn't wanna cure old age? Anyone who has kids... or parents, for that matter.
- chr1 8y agoAre you answering to the question "who __would__ want to cure old age"? Because having kids or parents usually means that you don't want them to die ever.
- sneak 8y agoRemember that time someone made a healthier and cheaper food but made it a liquid and bottled it and they attacked him? It seems there are like 3 or 4 things you can’t innovate on without being vilified as some out of touch, Mr Burns-style caricature. Food is one. Blood of those younger than you seems to be another. Suggesting that jurisdiction shopping to avoid all possible compulsory-military-funding is a good thing is another. I’m probably missing a few more. What else is a tradition that tampering with freaks people out on an irrational level? Probably something to do with daily routine like showering or sleeping or pooping or health maintenance.
- lawlessone 8y ago
- lawlessone 8y ago>Anyone over 35 with the necessary cash was eligible to receive two liters of plasma donated by young adults, which Ambrosia purchases from blood banks. Is this taking blood from donations from people with more genuine needs?
- pvarangot 8y agoYes, I mean I don't see how it couldn't be since everyone says blood donor supply is always lower than what's needed in almost any big city I've asked about.
- _pmf_ 8y agoSee: "The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy" about US companies buying blood from Nicaraguans for 5 dollar per liter.
- downrightmike 8y agoThere are whole companies that buy a lot of the donations from Red Cross etc and sell it for a nice profit.
- taneq 8y agoWow, it didn't even take exposing the Howard Families.
- sesm 8y agoIn Yharnam, they produce more blood than alcohol, as the former is the more intoxicating
- Hoasi 8y agoThis has all the ingredients for an upcoming debacle...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]