4 ms·

Everyone who works is selling their body in some way. That's all work is. Anything else is rent-taking.

by anvandare 8y ago

i_cannot_hack 8y ago
They obviously meant selling physical parts of your body, not selling your time or expertise in the abstract sense.
- anvandare 8y ago
  Blood replenishes though. It's not really a body part in that way, just like hair. (I don't know if regular donation has any long-term effects?) In that sense (no permanent impact) I'd see a greater problem with poverty driving people into working as miners or soldiers, than as blood donors. Semantics aside, the real problem is the (desperation of) poverty, not the results of it.
- rnnr 8y ago
  So selling your hair is a problem too? Surrogate mothers? Do you even think that a poor person has the same quality of healthcare as a rich person has? All these bans just showcase bad manners and bad leftist ideology.
  - eru 8y ago
    Surrogacy is banned in most of Europe. See eg https://www.euronews.com/2018/09/13/where-in-europe-is-surrogacy-legal https://www.euronews.com/2018/09/13/where-in-europe-is-surro... (or just do some Googling). I don't have too much of an opinion either way, but the Dutch are more consistent than you seem to give them credit for. (Selling hair is legal though for all I know.)
  - Nashooo 8y ago
    > Do you even think that a poor person has the same quality of healthcare as a rich person has? They actually do in The Netherlands :)
  - dang 8y ago
    Please keep ideological rants off HN. They're what this site is not for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
eveningcoffee 8y ago
No, you are selling your labor - the work your body does. Not your body parts.
- Retric 8y ago
  Blood is not really a body part in the way most people think of it. It’s much closer to saliva in that it’s generated by the body and used up fairly quickly. Red blood cells for example live for around 120 days which is limited because they don’t have DNA. I suspect this is an adaptation to both increase hemoglobin transport, but also to reduce cancer risks.
  - Symmetry 8y ago
    The only blood component you can sell in the US is plasma, which is replaced much more quickly than that.
- freeflight 8y ago
  The human body suffers just as much from wear and tear like anything else, maybe even more so due to being just a bunch of flesh/bones that can't be easily replaced. In that context, anybody who works hard labor is trading in part of their health for income because many labor-intensive jobs will take their toll on the body [0]. Up to a point where people either have to switch line of work or go into early retirement, as certain parts of their body stop functioning properly and they are stuck with chronic pains for the remainder of their lives. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-work-occupational-risks/physically-demanding-jobs-may-shorten-mens-lives-idUSKCN1IW2Z3 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-work-occupational-...
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    > The human body suffers just as much from wear and tear like anything else, maybe even more so due to being just a bunch of flesh/bones that can't be easily replaced. The human body is amazingly reliable, no comparison to "dead" (non-self-sustaining, non-self-renuvating) machines.
  - 8y ago
agumonkey 8y ago
Then let's have a threshold below which it's unethical and illegal.

Everyone who works is selling their body in some way. That's all work is. Anything else is rent-taking.

i_cannot_hack 8y ago

They obviously meant selling physical parts of your body, not selling your time or expertise in the abstract sense.

anvandare 8y ago
Blood replenishes though. It's not really a body part in that way, just like hair. (I don't know if regular donation has any long-term effects?) In that sense (no permanent impact) I'd see a greater problem with poverty driving people into working as miners or soldiers, than as blood donors. Semantics aside, the real problem is the (desperation of) poverty, not the results of it.
rnnr 8y ago
So selling your hair is a problem too? Surrogate mothers? Do you even think that a poor person has the same quality of healthcare as a rich person has? All these bans just showcase bad manners and bad leftist ideology.
- eru 8y ago
  Surrogacy is banned in most of Europe. See eg https://www.euronews.com/2018/09/13/where-in-europe-is-surrogacy-legal https://www.euronews.com/2018/09/13/where-in-europe-is-surro... (or just do some Googling). I don't have too much of an opinion either way, but the Dutch are more consistent than you seem to give them credit for. (Selling hair is legal though for all I know.)
- Nashooo 8y ago
  > Do you even think that a poor person has the same quality of healthcare as a rich person has? They actually do in The Netherlands :)
- dang 8y ago
  Please keep ideological rants off HN. They're what this site is not for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

eveningcoffee 8y ago

No, you are selling your labor - the work your body does. Not your body parts.

Retric 8y ago
Blood is not really a body part in the way most people think of it. It’s much closer to saliva in that it’s generated by the body and used up fairly quickly. Red blood cells for example live for around 120 days which is limited because they don’t have DNA. I suspect this is an adaptation to both increase hemoglobin transport, but also to reduce cancer risks.
- Symmetry 8y ago
  The only blood component you can sell in the US is plasma, which is replaced much more quickly than that.
freeflight 8y ago
The human body suffers just as much from wear and tear like anything else, maybe even more so due to being just a bunch of flesh/bones that can't be easily replaced. In that context, anybody who works hard labor is trading in part of their health for income because many labor-intensive jobs will take their toll on the body [0]. Up to a point where people either have to switch line of work or go into early retirement, as certain parts of their body stop functioning properly and they are stuck with chronic pains for the remainder of their lives. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-work-occupational-risks/physically-demanding-jobs-may-shorten-mens-lives-idUSKCN1IW2Z3 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-work-occupational-...
- blattimwind 8y ago
  > The human body suffers just as much from wear and tear like anything else, maybe even more so due to being just a bunch of flesh/bones that can't be easily replaced. The human body is amazingly reliable, no comparison to "dead" (non-self-sustaining, non-self-renuvating) machines.
- 8y ago

agumonkey 8y ago

Then let's have a threshold below which it's unethical and illegal.