Topic awaiting preservation: Artifical Womb? (Page 1 of 1)

The Raelians, after solidly failing to provide any evidence that they have created a human clone, have now proposed the BABYTRON - an artificial womb to grow them in:
www.rael.org/int/press_site/english/pages/press_releases/250203.html
www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-02-25-1

The second article gives links to more serious articles so it looks theoretical feasible but in an age when we are trying to reduce the population (and there are plenty of spare wombs available for the right money) it strikes me as largely unnecessary - not taking into account the Raelians track record

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I say we put a few of these Raelians in them, let them gestate for a while...see if they come out any less fucked.

=)

A self-confessed Raelian flirted with me once. He wasn't very good at it. That's all I have to add to this topic.

It's a shame. You two could have made beautiful kids together

The idiocy of the Raelians aside, I want to see us move forward with the technology. The fact that we have plenty of wombs available now doesn't negate the need for better tech, IMO.

quote:

---

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
--Isaac Asimov

---

. . : slicePuzzle

I agree. I would like to see this technology advanced further, as well.


WebShaman

quote:

---

You two could have made beautiful kids together

---

Well, no, see, the point is - now they can make beautiful kids seperately

And I disagree.

There are far to many other important things in the world that money could be spent on, this technology should be scrapped until we have a population deficiency.

=)

DL: Exactly:

quote:

---

this technology should be scrapped until we have a population deficiency.

---

It strikes me as:

1. Awfully unneccesary - its a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

2. Terribly indulgent - it seems like technology for technology's sake.

3. Unhealthy - we are living in a increasingly clean and anti-septic world which is actually cntributing to making us ill. Are we just trying to eliminate those messy times in our life (what next some kind of small machine to turn our shit into little odour-free dessicated cubes which pop out of a little door in our sides?). I wonder if there may be some vital contribution to a child's wellbeing that being in a mother's womb may provide.

I can see a few scenarios when this seems like a good thing:

1. An alien invasion where we might need to grow armies quickly (the next step in this artificual womb process is accelerated growth with some kind of in womb learning).

2. Urmmmmmmmm..... nope not got another one.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

quote:

---

An alien invasion where we might need to grow armies quickly

---

No, that's what we have the sharks with laser beams on their heads for.

I don't think we can predict what kind of advances that can come from these types of efforts and I prefer to see us moving forward in all the areas of tech that we can. No one predicted all the valuable everyday benefits that came from the space program. I'm sure many people feel exploring space should be put on hold until there is a real need too. IMO, the reasons we are not currently able to support all of the world's population have nothing to do with a lack of resources so I'm not worried that an artificial womb is going to make that situation any worse.