Artificial Wombs: Is A Sexless Reproduction Society In Our Future?

[Albert]

take a pill. and touch your palms. sit still. and wait for sparks to fly. i think the barbarella queen of the galaxy people have the right idea.

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Aldous Huxley would be proud, by Ford!! Soma for everyone!

[Order_66]

Maybe it can be used for a gay couple. I know probably not in the backwards USA where its still not legal in all states but there are places that actually care about its citizens like Canada that it would work great.

What? gay couples are illegal in the "backwards USA"? since when?

[Sadelwo]

I don't know why, but the first thing that came to mind was the Matrix.

Seriously this could be good for couples who struggle with miscarriages but I fear like many of our technologies, it will be abused. Like some country using it to produce their own breed of emotionless soldiers or some other twisted idea.

[Gerowen]

The "leave it to natural selection" argument is silly when you're living in a modern society which already rejects that notion in most respects. Modern medicine and medical practices, electronics, etc. If one day a baby can be born outside the womb with no side effects, it would just be yet another means, or "tool", for humans to use. Foregoing the advantages technology provides, especially when there are no drawbacks, just to maintain tradition is somewhat irrational and hypocritical. I don't even see it as a valid ethical issue. Who or what gets harmed other than arbitrary beliefs?

I had an entire rant written that would cover a lot of this, but deleted it to be considerate, however I'll elaborate on how I feel, because I think you may misunderstand my position. Before I begin I'd like to state that I don't think we should start systematically sterilizing people or refusing treatment to people to sick people, these are just things that I've observed, and it's as objective as I can be about the matter.

As a species who depends on this planet for sustenance, we have already surpassed the point at which the planet can sustainably feed every human being that exists. I appreciate a lot of the modern conveniences and advances in medicine, but at the same time I can objectively look at the condition we are in today and realize that if we don't colonize another planet soon, or figure out how to build cities under the ocean, a lot of us will gradually starve to death. It may not get to that point in my lifetime, but we're headed that way.

Because of things like vaccinations and advances in medicine, illnesses that would have killed people, and therefore helped to "cull the flock" a hundred or two hundred years ago, are now either extinct, or no longer a legitimate threat. People are alive today that would have been too mentally or physically weak to survive the rigors of day to day life if they had been around at the time this country (U.S.) was founded, and that was only a few hundred years ago. However, even though that is now the case, the vast majority of people, especially those in the lower income brackets (I live in a low-income area, so I know), have not modified their breeding habits to account for the higher chances of survival of their offspring. People continue to have 3, 4, and 5 children, and they will be praised and told how good it is that they can produce lots of children. In turn, each of those children will go on to have 3, 4 and 5 children, so in 2 generations, what started out as one man and one woman, may turn into 20 or 30.

As things stand now, even though the risk has drastically been reduced, there is still some risk involved in the child bearing process. Women regularly have miscarriages for one reason or another. Some people are just plain sterile and can't have children at all. This, in my opinion, is all part of the process of natural selection, and is a vital part of controlling the population of the human race. If we become capable of producing children at will with no real physical effort or pain on our part, the next thing you know we'll be trying to find a way to systematically execute people based on arbitrary divisions that we create like race, skin color, religious background, political leanings, income level, etc., just so the rest of us can have a bite to eat at the end of the day.

Unless of course the scientists that have figured out how to mass produce babies have also figured out how to colonize Mars, then we're all good, :-)

[Digit12345]

I had an entire rant written that would cover a lot of this, but deleted it to be considerate, however I'll elaborate on how I feel, because I think you may misunderstand my position. Before I begin I'd like to state that I don't think we should start systematically sterilizing people or refusing treatment to people to sick people, these are just things that I've observed, and it's as objective as I can be about the matter.

As a species who depends on this planet for sustenance, we have already surpassed the point at which the planet can sustainably feed every human being that exists. I appreciate a lot of the modern conveniences and advances in medicine, but at the same time I can objectively look at the condition we are in today and realize that if we don't colonize another planet soon, or figure out how to build cities under the ocean, a lot of us will gradually starve to death. It may not get to that point in my lifetime, but we're headed that way.

Because of things like vaccinations and advances in medicine, illnesses that would have killed people, and therefore helped to "cull the flock" a hundred or two hundred years ago, are now either extinct, or no longer a legitimate threat. People are alive today that would have been too mentally or physically weak to survive the rigors of day to day life if they had been around at the time this country (U.S.) was founded, and that was only a few hundred years ago. However, even though that is now the case, the vast majority of people, especially those in the lower income brackets (I live in a low-income area, so I know), have not modified their breeding habits to account for the higher chances of survival of their offspring. People continue to have 3, 4, and 5 children, and they will be praised and told how good it is that they can produce lots of children. In turn, each of those children will go on to have 3, 4 and 5 children, so in 2 generations, what started out as one man and one woman, may turn into 20 or 30.

As things stand now, even though the risk has drastically been reduced, there is still some risk involved in the child bearing process. Women regularly have miscarriages for one reason or another. Some people are just plain sterile and can't have children at all. This, in my opinion, is all part of the process of natural selection, and is a vital part of controlling the population of the human race. If we become capable of producing children at will with no real physical effort or pain on our part, the next thing you know we'll be trying to find a way to systematically execute people based on arbitrary divisions that we create like race, skin color, religious background, political leanings, income level, etc., just so the rest of us can have a bite to eat at the end of the day.

Unless of course the scientists that have figured out how to mass produce babies have also figured out how to colonize Mars, then we're all good, :-)

Sorry, I don't mean to disregard your whole post because I do agree that overpopulation is/will be an issue. However, I feel the solution to such a problem does not lie in avoiding technological advances. If overpopulation becomes critical, it's simply a matter of coming up with restrictions to control population growth, e.g. you're only able to perform this procedure once every x years. That's far easier and dare I say it trivial to solve compared to actually terraforming Mars. :rofl:

[Gerowen]

Sorry, I don't mean to disregard your whole post because I do agree that overpopulation is/will be an issue. However, I feel the solution to such a problem does not lie in avoiding technological advances. If overpopulation becomes critical, it's simply a matter of coming up with restrictions to control population growth, e.g. you're only able to perform this procedure once every x years. That's far easier and dare I say it trivial to solve compared to actually terraforming Mars. :rofl:

Yeah, agreed. I wasn't feeling offended or anything, I just wanted to make clear that I wasn't trying to be hypocritical or anything. It's a sticky situation, advances in science and medicine are necessary for an improved quality of life and for the evolution of the human race, but at the same time, we have a finite amount of physical space to stick everybody in, especially since NASA lost a lot of funding. I'm glad I'm not the one that's going to have to call the shots on this in the future, :p

[Andre S. Veteran]

Artificial intelligence advances expected over the next two decades will enable doctors to reproduce exact parent emotions and personalities via vocal recordings, movement, and other sensations.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's so funny no it isn't.

Let's be serious. The problematics raised by this hypothetical technology are deep and numerous. I'd say the main problem is the productization of human life versus being a spontaneous result of the love of two individuals as it has always been. I have my doubts, however, that such a technology may ever become a favourable alternative to natural gestation, just like artificial baby milk still remains inferior to breast feeding, or babies born through caesarians seem more vulnerable to certain diseases. There are so many variables there especially in the case of human life that I doubt the problem will be solved anytime soon, if ever. As impressive as our technology is, we're not very good at imitating nature.

[Digit12345]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's so funny no it isn't.

Let's be serious. The problematics raised by this hypothetical technology are deep and numerous. I'd say the main problem is the productization of human life versus being a spontaneous result of the love of two individuals as it has always been. I have my doubts, however, that such a technology may ever become a favourable alternative to natural gestation, just like artificial baby milk still remains inferior to breast feeding, or babies born through caesarians seem more vulnerable to certain diseases. There are so many variables there especially in the case of human life that I doubt the problem will be solved anytime soon, if ever.

Maybe if effective quantum computing ever rolls around. :laugh:

[remixedcat]

OMG this is scary and gross I don't they should allow that to be legal that is very disgusting and literally made me gag. ewwwwwwwwwwwww. wombs belong inside a woman... not hanging on some rack..... alien egg sacks anyone? grosss

[Digit12345]

OMG this is scary and gross I don't they should allow that to be legal that is very disgusting and literally made me gag. ewwwwwwwwwwwww. wombs belong inside a woman... not hanging on some rack..... alien egg sacks anyone? grosss

It's certainly far from today's norms but I don't feel it's any more gross or scary than say opening bodies up for surgery or performing autopsies. Those were probably much more outlandish hundreds of years ago.

[Colin McGregor]

OMG this is scary and gross I don't they should allow that to be legal that is very disgusting and literally made me gag. ewwwwwwwwwwwww. wombs belong inside a woman... not hanging on some rack..... alien egg sacks anyone? grosss

how is alien egg sacks any less gross then the real thing? You ever see a childbirth taking place. It's the most disgusting thing ever imagined. I saw it once and I was afraid of vaginas for a month.

[Original Poster]

True, but it's not always nature rejecting the possibility.

Ah, I see we can agree here.

Well, I think this might be a great chance for transsexuals however, but I guess this should only ever be made possible after throughout testing.

And by throughout I mean: THROUGHOUT.

Sounds very wrong to me, but maybe that's just me.

Mate with each other ffs...

Glassed Silver:mac

Sadly I cannot agree with you on the trans sexual part ... they are not natural (not a cross dresser cause dressing differently is a social thing so I dont mind either way about that) but where people change their gender... is a no in my books .... gays, lesbians, bi sexuals all natural..... ,

either way the only way I agree with this technology is if a woman for example had her womb damaged in a car accident ... I dont agree with it for transgender use or people who cant naturally give birth, adopt is my answer to both those situations

.

[Yogurtmaster]

Society is like a house of cards, start pulling cards out and the whole thing falls apart. Some people call this progress, I call this another card as another card is being pulled.

[Azusa]

So how do you use the 3 clamshells?

[123456789A]

I want to overclock my artificial womb and make thousands of babies, all named Steve.

[McKay]

OMG this is scary and gross I don't they should allow that to be legal that is very disgusting and literally made me gag. ewwwwwwwwwwwww. wombs belong inside a woman... not hanging on some rack..... alien egg sacks anyone? grosss

Sounds very wrong to me, but maybe that's just me.

Mate with each other ffs...

Glassed Silver:mac

So basically, "anyone who thinks differently to me is wrong? This gives people who wouldn't previously be able to have kids have them. You've all rejected Nature to a certain degree, we use pesticides on our crops, we use medicine, we give people who lose limbs prosthetics.

[remixedcat]

why can't the people that can't have kids and are that desperate just adopt? give an unwanted child a home and change a life. That would be much better.

[McKay]

why can't the people that can't have kids and are that desperate just adopt? give an unwanted child a home and change a life. That would be much better.

Some people might worry they won't feel as strong an attraction to a child they adopt than they would with a child related to them.

[remixedcat]

Some people might worry they won't feel as strong an attraction to a child they adopt than they would with a child related to them.

Understood, however there are way too many risks of the fake womb....

[Azusa]

why can't the people that can't have kids and are that desperate just adopt? give an unwanted child a home and change a life. That would be much better.

Cause the adoption process is such a bitch cause you got to be prime class A people to adopt yet any old scum of the earth can pop a baby out.

[Sranshaft]

First thing I thought was, this would be an awesome step toward generation ships?

[remixedcat]

Cause the adoption process is such a bitch cause you got to be prime class A people to adopt yet any old scum of the earth can pop a baby out.

this depresses me.

[Gotenks98]

Kyle XY anyone???

Either way they dont need to do this. This is the very definition of playing God.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Attack of the clones