3 ms·

Maybe we could grow happy, stress free and well fed human beings. Then we wouldn't need so many transplants in the first place.

account42 5y ago
But happy, stress free and well fed pigs are probably cheaper.
- moffkalast 5y ago
  Or they could take a page from the semiconductor industry and replace human hearts with 128 genetically modified mouse hearts in an array.
madaxe_again 5y ago
Ah, but the human is more economically productive than the pig, particularly when taken as a cohort, and healthcare and happiness are expensive - and there is therefore a point of diminishing returns for increased happiness and health. It makes more sense to allow a certain portion of your population to die of preventable causes than to make them all happy, as the current net goal is economic productivity, not human happiness. This is demonstrated aptly by the lack of socialised healthcare in much of the world, and where it does exist, the relative paucity of resources provided. So, while I agree in spirit with what you posit, capitalism and the value axis it brings has to die first.
inglor_cz 5y ago
The problems of aging would creep on them later, but it isn't as if happy, stress free and well fed people stay healthy forever. Aging is a process that affects everyone, the only thing that you can influence a bit is speed thereof.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Oh we can, there was this guy in Germany that failed art school, he had a couple mates, they figured that with good genes, training and education they could... You see where this is going, right? Oh, what you describe actually might fit the book Brave New World as well. Anyway yeah I know what you mean, this is why things like education, well-paying low-stress jobs, housing, health care, access to food are so important. They encourage an overall healthy and happy population without imposing on them. But the US is a bit of a shithole in that regard; low paying jobs, food deserts, financial worries, crippling debts to pay for a lifestyle that people can't afford but need, etc. The country and its policies are self-destructive, and, dare I say it, a kind of economic eugenics - if you're too poor to afford health care you'll be removed from the gene pool.
- Chris2048 5y ago
  > You see where this is going, right? Yes, a slippery-slope argument that all gene manipulation leads to eugenics. Here's the counterpoint: The Nazis (and eugenicists / race-scientists in general) used the authority of science, but didn't actually do good science (and slipped in a lot of stuff that was pure ideology); so actual science is automatically different.

account42 5y ago

But happy, stress free and well fed pigs are probably cheaper.

moffkalast 5y ago
Or they could take a page from the semiconductor industry and replace human hearts with 128 genetically modified mouse hearts in an array.

madaxe_again 5y ago

Ah, but the human is more economically productive than the pig, particularly when taken as a cohort, and healthcare and happiness are expensive - and there is therefore a point of diminishing returns for increased happiness and health. It makes more sense to allow a certain portion of your population to die of preventable causes than to make them all happy, as the current net goal is economic productivity, not human happiness. This is demonstrated aptly by the lack of socialised healthcare in much of the world, and where it does exist, the relative paucity of resources provided. So, while I agree in spirit with what you posit, capitalism and the value axis it brings has to die first.

inglor_cz 5y ago

The problems of aging would creep on them later, but it isn't as if happy, stress free and well fed people stay healthy forever. Aging is a process that affects everyone, the only thing that you can influence a bit is speed thereof.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

Oh we can, there was this guy in Germany that failed art school, he had a couple mates, they figured that with good genes, training and education they could... You see where this is going, right? Oh, what you describe actually might fit the book Brave New World as well. Anyway yeah I know what you mean, this is why things like education, well-paying low-stress jobs, housing, health care, access to food are so important. They encourage an overall healthy and happy population without imposing on them. But the US is a bit of a shithole in that regard; low paying jobs, food deserts, financial worries, crippling debts to pay for a lifestyle that people can't afford but need, etc. The country and its policies are self-destructive, and, dare I say it, a kind of economic eugenics - if you're too poor to afford health care you'll be removed from the gene pool.

Chris2048 5y ago
> You see where this is going, right? Yes, a slippery-slope argument that all gene manipulation leads to eugenics. Here's the counterpoint: The Nazis (and eugenicists / race-scientists in general) used the authority of science, but didn't actually do good science (and slipped in a lot of stuff that was pure ideology); so actual science is automatically different.