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There's a whole chain of novels by Larry Niven about what might happen when human organs enter a market economy. It assumes it works like any other closely-reg

There's a whole chain of novels by Larry Niven about what might happen when human organs enter a market economy. It assumes it works like any other closely-regulated market, producing a robust black market quickly dominated by organized crime. Also, none of the people in the chain you list are profiting from your 'scarce resource,' but from providing skills and facilities to enable transplantation. (Insurance companies are just parasites, no argument there.) Further, you left out the primary motivating factor behind the program: the recipient.

astrange 3y ago
> There's a whole chain of novels by Larry Niven about what might happen when human organs enter a market economy. It assumes it works like any other closely-regulated market, producing a robust black market quickly dominated by organized crime. This is like when people quote Pournelle's Law like it's a fact. The only thing this paragraph means, just like the only thing Pournelle's Law means, is that the person who wrote it is a Republican. It doesn't actually demonstrate anything factual or even related to reality. (You can get paid for plasma and sperm donations but there isn't a black market for those.) > Insurance companies are just parasites, no argument there. They provide insurance, and they're probably more aligned with your interests than the rest of the supply chain is.
- tzs 3y ago
  > (You can get paid for plasma and sperm donations but there isn't a black market for those.) There were plasma black markets during and after the COVID pandemic [1][2][3][4][5]. There are black markets in sperm [6][7][8][9][10]. [1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/exclusive-coronavirus-pandemic-fuels-black-market-for-plasma-of-recovered-patients-1703332-2020-07-22 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/exclusive-coronavirus-... [2] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/07/iraq-coronavirus-plasma-blood.html https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/07/iraq-coronaviru... [3] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/06/egypt-coronavirus-survivors-plasma-black-market.html https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/06/egypt-coronavir... [4] https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12644-blood-plasma-black-market-emerges-in-pakistan-amid-covid-19-crisis https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12644-blood-plasma-black-mark... [5] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/medical-experts-warn-against-buying-black-market-plasma-882823 https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/medical-experts-warn-... [6] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12370461/Facebooks-black-market-sperm-donation-industry-exposed-Wannabe-moms-poor-afford-30-000-IVF-lured-having-unprotected-sex-forced-meet-men-met-online-parking-lots-swap-semen-samples.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12370461/Facebook... [7] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13298869/sperm-donors-black-market-inconceivable.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13298869/sperm-dono... [8] https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wild-west-sperm-black-market-32583799 https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wild-west-sperm-... [9] https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/undercover-hunt-in-italy39s-black-market-for-sperm-donors https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/undercover-hunt-in-i... [10] https://www.thehelper.net/threads/seedy-world-of-the-super-sperm-donors-inside-americas-black-market-of-men-who-father-hundreds-demand-natural-insemination-in-motels.193509/ https://www.thehelper.net/threads/seedy-world-of-the-super-s...

astrange 3y ago

> There's a whole chain of novels by Larry Niven about what might happen when human organs enter a market economy. It assumes it works like any other closely-regulated market, producing a robust black market quickly dominated by organized crime. This is like when people quote Pournelle's Law like it's a fact. The only thing this paragraph means, just like the only thing Pournelle's Law means, is that the person who wrote it is a Republican. It doesn't actually demonstrate anything factual or even related to reality. (You can get paid for plasma and sperm donations but there isn't a black market for those.) > Insurance companies are just parasites, no argument there. They provide insurance, and they're probably more aligned with your interests than the rest of the supply chain is.

tzs 3y ago
> (You can get paid for plasma and sperm donations but there isn't a black market for those.) There were plasma black markets during and after the COVID pandemic [1][2][3][4][5]. There are black markets in sperm [6][7][8][9][10]. [1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/exclusive-coronavirus-pandemic-fuels-black-market-for-plasma-of-recovered-patients-1703332-2020-07-22 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/exclusive-coronavirus-... [2] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/07/iraq-coronavirus-plasma-blood.html https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/07/iraq-coronaviru... [3] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/06/egypt-coronavirus-survivors-plasma-black-market.html https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/06/egypt-coronavir... [4] https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12644-blood-plasma-black-market-emerges-in-pakistan-amid-covid-19-crisis https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12644-blood-plasma-black-mark... [5] https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/medical-experts-warn-against-buying-black-market-plasma-882823 https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/medical-experts-warn-... [6] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12370461/Facebooks-black-market-sperm-donation-industry-exposed-Wannabe-moms-poor-afford-30-000-IVF-lured-having-unprotected-sex-forced-meet-men-met-online-parking-lots-swap-semen-samples.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12370461/Facebook... [7] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13298869/sperm-donors-black-market-inconceivable.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13298869/sperm-dono... [8] https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wild-west-sperm-black-market-32583799 https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wild-west-sperm-... [9] https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/undercover-hunt-in-italy39s-black-market-for-sperm-donors https://worldcrunch.com/culture-society/undercover-hunt-in-i... [10] https://www.thehelper.net/threads/seedy-world-of-the-super-sperm-donors-inside-americas-black-market-of-men-who-father-hundreds-demand-natural-insemination-in-motels.193509/ https://www.thehelper.net/threads/seedy-world-of-the-super-s...