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The problem with organ transplants these days is the high organ rejection rate. You'd have perfect transplants if you used genetically identical body parts. So imagine all the cash someone could make if they moved to a country (or started their own like Sealand) where human cloning was legal, and started
up a biotech company where wealthy individuals would have a brain-dead replicate of themselves cloned and stored. It would be a giant warehouse full of brain-dead bodies hooked up to IV's, just waiting for "harvest day." Feeling a little chest pain lately? Then maybe it's time for a heart replacement. Might as well go for a tummy-tuck and a new liver while you're at it. Vision getting worse? I know where you can get a pair of corneas that will fit perfectly.
WiReD, Jan 2000: Don't Die, Stay Pretty
http://www.wirednew....01/forever_pr.html
Human spare parts is just one of the promises of genetics that the Extropians are playing with. [jutta, Dec 14 2000]
The Island
http://en.wikipedia...and_%282005_film%29
[xaviergisz, Feb 22 2010]
[link]
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Won't the new body parts have the same problem as the old? |
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Yes, but they'll be younger. Same thing as getting new brake pads. |
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Nice opportunity for heavy drinkers then, less useful for those with congenital heart defects. Presumably you can swap with others who have matching tissue types if one or more of your organs has genetic faults -- be interesting to see how the trades would run ("three feet of small intestine for a pancreas, what about it?"). Actually, it would be more interesting still to go to one of the swap meets. |
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Its probably slightly more ethical to be able to grow the required parts seperately - for example the pig with human heart thing. Oh, by the way, you just said kidley..... |
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A scenario:
1) Middle-aged billionare clones himself to harvest spare parts.
2) Experiment is successful, clone grows into a young teenager.
3) Before billionare needs any spare parts, clone is injured, destroying a vital organ. Clone needs a transplant to survive.
4) Billionare, the obvious donor, refuses, deciding instead to simply start over with a new clone.
5) Lawyers swoop in and sue the billionare for his organ, arguing that the clone has more life left in which to make good use of the organ than the decrepit billionare. The legal basis for this case is the principle implied in euthanasia laws, which by this time have been passed nationwide.
6) Billionare loses the lawsuit, his organ, and his life. Lawyers take 40% of the billionare's billions. |
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What would be better is - as Imagoo said - growing individual body parts, ie. not a sentient life form; but inside the person, so that they simply grow a second liver gradually (like some kind of latent foetal organ) which takes over from the disfuntional one, which can be/has been removed. |
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Without entering into the cloning debate (have we seen the BABIES LEFT IN CARS thing? my god...), I think that there is potential for the vast improvement in medicine on offer by GT, but it's likely to remain unused because nobody likes it. Like nuclear power.
[And note that I haven't said whether I'm for or against it, either, mainly because my opinion gene was a recessive one.] |
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No, the new parts won't have the same problems as the old ones- the problem with old parts is that they're too old. Sure, it may be better to grow the organs seperately in petri dishes or something, definitely cheaper, but it's not possible at this time. Human cloning is. And who said anything about ethics or the law? Remember this company won't be located in our Puritan country. |
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Cloning a spare body part..maybe, but not likely to be seen for some time, esp. a functional organ. Using a brain-dead clone? A living human does not function very long or well without brain function - even with high-tech life support. So maybe you're suggesting cloning yourself and inflicting brain death (i.e. killing him/yourself??) roughly around the time you need the spare part? The humanity... |
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Another thought - while creatures are now being successfully cloned, scientists admit they have had numerous "shredders" born before successful cloning. A shredder is a genetic anomaly that is undetectable until after birth and sometimes viable. Translated: you may be cloning some living, breathing monsters before you could get that kidney... |
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Why shredder? Did they shred them? |
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Could really smart individuals donate the brains of their spares to some tissue compatible moron? |
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[kbecker], it doesn't work like that. I was born with a perfectly good brain, for example. Not look what happened. |
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Nevertheless, you're welcome to what's left of it when I'm gone. |
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One of my exes was born with 4 kidneys, they had to have one taken out but that still leaves three. One for back up, so to say. Quite handy really (though somehow icky). |
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Maybe you're on to something there. GM people to grow an extra of everything every decade or two. Sure, we'd be carrying around extra bulk and would be less efficient, but (at least in the US) we consume more enough to provide for extra bulk anyway - why not put it to use? |
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Hate cloning & psycho g.m. stuff in general but this sounds somewhat decent for what should be a somewhat obvious reason. Good job flapmaster. |
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//One of my exes was born with 4 kidneys...// Was she born natually that way or is she a GM? |
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Your idea is known as the "identical twin brother/sister" |
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For the rest of us-Headless Clones-
WAVE OF THE FUTURE, thank goodness! |
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