Eλευθερί
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Post by Eλευθερί on May 31, 2018 9:47:31 GMT
If it were possible to grow human bodies that could be used to harvest replacement organs and tissues for sick people, or for use in medical research, would it be immoral to do so?
By this I mean brainless bodies--bodies that exist with no higher cerebral functions; so, presumably, no emotions, memories, consciousness. Either the brains are not physically there, or, if present, are not capable of functioning. Leaving the bodies with just, perhaps, brainstem reflexes at a subreptilian level--at the most.
Currently, human tissues are routinely grown in labs for study and medical use--and have been for many decades. Few people challenge this practice as being immoral.
The next step up would be growing collections of tissues (whole organs) in the laboratory. I suspect that very few would view this as immoral.
So what about whole bodies (sans the advanced portions of the brain)?
Perhaps in the not-too-distant-future, the wealthy and privileged will start growing genetically-matched spare bodies as soon as they are born, just in case.
(Obviously, we stipulate that no otherwise-healthy person would be harmed in order to use their bodies for this purpose.)
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Post by Marv on May 31, 2018 10:12:21 GMT
As long as they didn’t have thinking power, no, it’s not immoral. The moment it can realize it’s cattle, I’d say it’s immoral.
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on May 31, 2018 10:26:04 GMT
I'm not sure why it would be better or more efficient to grow a whole body rather than the individual organs.
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Eλευθερί
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Post by Eλευθερί on May 31, 2018 11:06:04 GMT
I'm not sure why it would be better or more efficient to grow a whole body rather than the individual organs. Plenty of reasons. Consider, for instance, that isolated organs would not benefit from a natural immune system. |
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Post by phludowin on May 31, 2018 11:09:08 GMT
If it were possible to grow human bodies that could be used to harvest replacement organs and tissues for sick people, or for use in medical research, would it be immoral to do so? By this I mean brainless bodies--bodies that exist with no higher cerebral functions; so, presumably, no emotions, memories, consciousness. Either the brains are not physically there, or, if present, are not capable of functioning. Leaving the bodies with just, perhaps, brainstem reflexes at a subreptilian level--at the most. Currently, human tissues are routinely grown in labs for study and medical use--and have been for many decades. Few people challenge this practice as being immoral. The next step up would be growing collections of tissues (whole organs) in the laboratory. I suspect that very few would view this as immoral. So what about whole bodies (sans the advanced portions of the brain)? Perhaps in the not-too-distant-future, the wealthy and privileged will start growing genetically-matched spare bodies as soon as they are born, just in case. (Obviously, we stipulate that no otherwise-healthy person would be harmed in order to use their bodies for this purpose.) If the grown replacement bodies weren't persons, then it wouldn't be immoral in my opinion. Whether it would make sense biologically is another story. But if the replacement clones developed personalities, like in the movie "The Island", then it would be immoral in my opinion to just kill and harvest them. |
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Post by CoolJGS☺ on May 31, 2018 11:14:41 GMT
I'm not sure why it would be better or more efficient to grow a whole body rather than the individual organs. Plenty of reasons. Consider, for instance, that isolated organs would not benefit from a natural immune system. That's what the host body is for. You would have to maintain a bunch of systems just to grow specific organs. |
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2018 12:24:42 GMT
Seems okay to me, though I suspect we will be 3D Printing organs before long rather than growing bodies to harvest.
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klandersen
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Post by klandersen on May 31, 2018 18:28:22 GMT
It sounds like you are talking about making clones to be used for spare parts. To me it would be a waste of time, effort and energy. Keeping the "clone" alive, more likely in cold storage until parts are needed. The idea of cloning someone in their peak and using the clone parts as needed might makes sense on some levels, but it also means long periods of storage time of the parts. Some parts wouldn't be ever used at all.
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Eλευθερί
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Post by Eλευθερί on May 31, 2018 23:50:11 GMT
It sounds like you are talking about making clones to be used for spare parts. To me it would be a waste of time, effort and energy. Keeping the "clone" alive, more likely in cold storage until parts are needed. The idea of cloning someone in their peak and using the clone parts as needed might makes sense on some levels, but it also means long periods of storage time of the parts. Some parts wouldn't be ever used at all. Your comments here are about efficiency. The question was is it immoral. FWIW, there are lots of spare things that are maintained that may never be used. Spare tires/tyres, spare crashcarts in medical centers, spare first aid kits, spare parachutes, spare batteries, Vice Presidents. That something might never be used is not a negative. Also, you are severely underestimating the costs associated with organ replacement. Many people die for lack of suitable donor organs, or from rejection of transplanted organs. |
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Eλευθερί
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Post by Eλευθερί on May 31, 2018 23:57:35 GMT
Plenty of reasons. Consider, for instance, that isolated organs would not benefit from a natural immune system. That's what the host body is for. You would have to maintain a bunch of systems just to grow specific organs. Seems okay to me, though I suspect we will be 3D Printing organs before long rather than growing bodies to harvest. Certain organs grown in isolation may suffice, but it's likely that there are other body parts that will never be quite as good as the original, from lacking exposure to various factors that an organ that has developed in its natural environment benefits from. It's like trying to produce a copycat food or flavor (eg artificial vanilla). Without knowing exactly what processes went into creating the original, the maker of the counterfeit invariably produces something that, as palatable as it might be in its own right, never quite matches the real thing. We don't know all of the effects the immune system has on organs during their development. |
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Post by drystyx on Jun 1, 2018 0:04:07 GMT
Agree with 99% of people, and consensus here, and probably with OP. If cloning parts wouldn't involve making a cognitive being, but who would really know if it's cognitive? Just not having a brain or nervous system only means we don't acknowledge it as a cognitive being, and that's probably correct, but despite all our pride in thinking we can figure out everything, we can never be 100% sure.
Definitely should never harvest humans for parts.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2018 0:06:55 GMT
We don't know all of the effects the immune system has on organs during their development. I'm confident that we'll work it out in the end. |
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