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Ethically sourced "spare" human bodies could revolutionize medicine
- AlexErrant 2y ago> We do not know whether the embryo models recently created from stem cells could give rise to living people or, thus far, even to living mice. So it doesn't even work in mice... how about we get that working first. Then maybe grow chickens/cows for meat. Then write "revolutionize medicine" headlines.
- deadbabe 2y agoSomeday an influencer will make a YouTube video about how he grew a guy from an embryo model.
- davidpfarrell 2y agoEthically sourced "spare" human bodies could revolutionize the market for unethically sourced "spare" human bodies ...
- baranul 2y agoHave the feeling that cheaper unethically sourced bodies would be the majority of the market, if ever usage of "spare" bodies were to happen.
- hulitu 2y agoThey already did this in conflict zones. It's funny how people strech the definition of things. But hey, if it worked for HD it shall work for everything.
- Mountain_Skies 2y agoMany states in the US switched from opt-in to opt-out for organ donation. Usually we get upset about such tactics, but this change seems to have been widely supported even though it is a form of coercion and has informed consent issues.
- aoanevdus 2y agoQuite a tangent, but what if we apply this logic of informed consent to property? If a person without a will dies, should we leave their house abandoned until it decomposes? Automatic organ donation is like probate for bodies.
- bitwize 2y agoKinda like prostitution where it has been legalized, in which the availability of ethically sourced human bodies (i.e., from licensed brothels) drives up the demand for unethically sourced bodies (sex trafficking).
- guappa 2y agoSource for this claim?
- ursulasorensen 2y ago[dead]
- HPsquared 2y agoLike Jevons' paradox?
- renewiltord 2y agoIndeed this is one of the big considerations of adoption or organ donation. Both revolutionized their respective markets: trafficking and involuntary organ trade. To say nothing of abortion and gay marriage - two much desired things in the US which nonetheless revolutionized the market for unethical embryo termination and involuntary marriage.
- benwad 2y agoHow did gay marriage revolutionise the market for involuntary marriage?
- scotty79 2y agoThat sounds like wishful thinking. Body that doesn't move just wastes away. People are imagining perfect bodies peacefully lying down but it would be more like a something between neurology ward and hospice.
- Dracophoenix 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)
- DidYaWipe 2y agoWhich was a rip-off of: https://robincook.com/product/chromosome-6 https://robincook.com/product/chromosome-6
- irjustin 2y agoIf there's merit, it should be added to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)#Copyright_infringement_lawsuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)#Copyrig.... By early 2000's this idea isn't that novel honestly. When it comes to movies what is truly novel anyways?
- guappa 2y agoPublished in 1997? The idea had been around for several decades in literature at that point.
- fleek 2y agoCan we please not make out-of-touch, old, rich people live any longer than they should. They will be the only ones capable of affording this service. Reminds me of meths from the altered carbon series.
- phendrenad2 2y agoI mean, if can mandate that "no out-of-touch, old, rich people" can "live longer than they should" to solve the problem, then we could ALSO solve the problem more directly and thoroughly by just mandating that "this is available to everyone". I don't make the rules, that's how this hypothetical works out if you think about it.
- Mountain_Skies 2y agoWhile I doubt it was the intent of the original poster's comment, there's no shortage of people who look forward to the death of old people they see as being in the way of change they desire.
- phendrenad2 2y agoActually, I think you're wrong. That's a perspective you might get from watching certain news outlets, but if you get outside and touch some grass, meet your neighbors, you'll find that most people AREN'T cynical robots who have taken transhumanism to an eugenic extreme. Maybe just my experience, though.
- JoshTriplett 2y agoTechnology always starts out being available to a subset of people before it's available for everyone. This is the path that leads to making it available to everyone.
- phendrenad2 2y agoI've been thinking about this. If we can create human bodies that never achieve an intelligence level beyond that of a sea slug, then surely nobody rational would be against using them for science. But where is the line? If the human bodies are as intelligent as, say, a mouse, are they then entitled to human rights, and can't be grown for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs? It's a serious topic.
- conception 2y agoRealDoll’s CEO perks up.
- BikDk 2y agoOn the contrary, as if you under any circumstances should lose your intelligence - I hope not - you would not be considerate a human being anymore. And if there's a market for such, the incentive to give you a - cartoon like - hammer on the head would be there, too.
- Doxin 2y agoI mean that's already true to a degree. Pulling the plug on someone in a coma is a fairly normal thing. Unlike what you imagine a coma isn't a binary thing, there's degrees. When does it become okay to pull the plug?
- BikDk 2y agoYou do get the point, please be careful with the hammer now.
- ropejumper 2y agoPeople in a coma are still considered real human beings. The reason why you'd pull the plug is because there is no prospect of survival, or that the resources necessary are too great. Which, as much as it sucks, is a normal thing that happens. People die. Intentionally breeding people that have no intelligence is a very different thing and I don't even know why we're talking about it as if it's even remotely similar.
- more_corn 2y agoThis is a terrible plan.
- black_13 2y ago[dead]
- daedrdev 2y agoYou know getting working organs from pigs seems infinitely more ethical, and maybe easier since we are much better at growing pigs than "spare" bodies
- oatmeal1 2y agoI eat meat, but I don't think there is an actual consistent ethical standard that doesn't rely on religion that justifies the use of animals. The average pig is a lot smarter than the dumbest human, and experiences emotions like a human child does. I much rather use non-sentient bodies wherever possible.
- michaelhoney 2y agoI agree - using a pig instrumentally like that seems less ethical than growing human organs from our own stem cells
- bandie91 2y agoin what sense does it relies on "religion" (and which religion) to "you may sustain your life by killing and eating animals, AND by killing and using their organs if you garbaged yours (which you should avoid anyways)" which is reasoned with nature's observed behaviur of each species seem to absolutely protect their own at the expense of other species? exception are just those, exceptions. but the overarching rule is to be "selfish". if there would be any religion which contradict this is Christianity which teaches that you are not only should sustain you and your family/tribe/species but also the whole Earth, animals, plants we are entrusted with; so preferencing our own species is not absolute.
- padjo 2y agoPigs are smart sentient beings capable of feeling emotions. There’s very little ethically defensible in how we currently “grow” them.
- michaelhoney 2y agoOn the one hand, horrifying. On the other hand, it'd be great to have a whole spare body with your own (perhaps improved) genetics available for parts – or, better, grown on demand.
- DidYaWipe 2y agoSeveral backward states have already outlawed sheet meat. They'll never stand for this.
- floppiplopp 2y agoMeh. I'm assuming it'll be only available to the monied class and they don't care about ethics anyways. So might as well just take one of the organs from that new and upcoming El Salvadorian supplier.
- bebe8dj383i 2y ago[flagged]
- guappa 2y ago[flagged]
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- lordofgibbons 2y agoHopefully these can be used in human transplants too so people don't have to resort to stealing and kidnappings. There are even militaries that are actively (right now) stealing human organs and distributing them to the civilian sector during conflict: https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/27/israel-stealing-organs-from-bodies-in-gaza-alleges-human-right-group https://www.euronews.com/2023/11/27/israel-stealing-organs-f... https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34503294 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34503294 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/12/21/israel-admits-to-organ-thefts https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/12/21/israel-admits-to-o... https://researchcentre.trtworld.com/featured/perspectives/deadly-exploitation-israel-and-the-persistent-claims-of-organ-harvesting/ https://researchcentre.trtworld.com/featured/perspectives/de...
- thread_id 2y ago>Recently, researchers have used these stem cells to create structures that seem to mimic the early development of actual human embryos. At the same time, artificial uterus technology is rapidly advancing, and other pathways may be opening to allow for the development of fetuses outside of the body. >Such technologies, together with established genetic techniques to inhibit brain development, make it possible to envision the creation of “bodyoids”—a potentially unlimited source of human bodies, developed entirely outside of a human body from stem cells, that lack sentience or the ability to feel pain. Where have I seen this before? Isn't this a plotline taken directly from numerous dystopian science fiction books and movies I have experienced? Life imitates art. Was this outcome inevitable? Think Aldous Huxley 'Brave New World'.
- bratwurst3000 2y agoand rick and morty :)
- 0xbadc0de5 2y agoThis sounds like the movie, The Island. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)