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If this is approached with the idea that donors must be properly compensated there is a risk of setting up a new sector of the economy, one where people are eco
by neovialogistics 3y ago
If this is approached with the idea that donors must be properly compensated there is a risk of setting up a new sector of the economy, one where people are economically coerced into sacrificing their bodily integrity just to make rent.
Assuming that this discovery is turned into a useful technology, any method of systematizing that technology that doesn't have a mixture of lawyers, bioethicists, sociologists and patient advocates in a policy-making role will introduce new horrors to society, outweighing the gains.
- WaxProlix 3y ago> there is a risk of setting up a new sector of the economy, one where people are economically coerced into sacrificing their personal integrity just to make rent Oh no, this new sector sounds terrible!
- mock-possum 3y agoThis already exists with plasma donation - the rich are literally sucking the blood of the poor.
- mattmaroon 3y agoDo you think donated plasma is just going to the rich? I'd say people who need plasma are buying the blood of the poor.
- yamazakiwi 3y agoThe work force sucked all the integrity I had already, so it shouldn't be too bad!
- neovialogistics 3y agoTypo, I meant bodily integrity.
- scotty79 3y agoIf it's an identified protein, why not make it with yeast. This way there won't be any use for young people.
- bell-cot 3y agoAt least in America, for-pay plasma "donation" has been a thing for how many decades now?
- jrockway 3y ago> economically coerced into sacrificing their bodily integrity just to make rent I have a friend who donated blood routinely while between jobs. They already pay for this.
- slowmovintarget 3y agoThat conditional has one hell of an `else` clause. What if we assume they should not be properly compensated? Semantic jokes aside, we have some decent coverage of the idea from science fiction already. The one that comes to my mind is the Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 9: "Deathwalker" where an alien develops a universal anti-agapic and decides to give it to Earth because it requires the destruction of someone living to create a dose. What we actually need is to find a way to synthesize the protein, should it have any equivalent and effect in humans, under production circumstances, and not require donors at all.
- oatmeal1 3y agoHistorically, politicians will successfully ban unpleasant options the poor choose, instead of giving them better options so they don't have to choose a bad option in the first place.
- mattmaroon 3y ago"Economically coerced" is just a far left term for "paid". I'm economically coerced to do a whole lot of things like work. Most of us are. It's only a problem if people don't have other ways to make rent because of it. If this somehow decreases people's other opportunites to get money, then sure, that's bad. I've had poor friends and family sell plasma for money. They don't feel worse off for having the option.
- BurningFrog 3y agoIt's pretty fantastic how even cures for aging will be seen as "introducing new horrors to society" by a certain crowd.