Our transhuman future

[YellowOrangePink]

Aibu to wonder how much time people spend thinking about this?

In vitro gestation - wonderful liberation for women? Or a boon for incels who can create armies of children without women. This is just one example - there are many. People will appear on this thread to let us know that we already are transhuman as we take the pill and wear glasses... obviously true. But it still raises interesting questions about our culture its ability to evolve at the same pace as technological developments. Do you look forward with optimism, that we will be freed from the shackles and restraints of our God-given nature and bodies? Or do you look ahead with grim pessimism, certain that the benefits will be reaped by a tiny few at the top and at a terrible cost to the rest of us when we become total commodities...

Like AI, my attitude to this is "just because we can, doesn't mean we should."

Too much law of unintended consequences at play in both subjects and they will be linked.

It's all pretty horrific.

We're going to to struggle because we don't have much in the way of robust moral frameworks for handling this stuff, but the tech entrepreneurs won't care about that and will plough on regardless.

As terrible as going through pregnancy is… I think human gestation is really important for the mother and baby. If you don’t birth your child (which, I understand a lot of people adopt or use surrogates and still feel love and a connection with their children) you don’t get that euphoric oxytocin rush while you’re holding him/her in your arms for the first time, and the intense bond that comes with it. If you don’t suffer so much to carry them for 9-10 months, and to deliver them earthside, and your body hasn’t gone through these biological changes that make women SO instinctively aware and protective of their babies (usually. Sometimes this is absent or delayed for various reasons)… How does that affect how you care for your baby afterwards?

Are the artificially gestated children going to feel connected to their parents, if they haven’t been carried by their mothers, felt her movements and touch through her belly, heard their parents voices and heartbeats…? I can’t imaging depriving a developing baby of that.

Also, should men choose to make children without sexualpartners, unless they hire wet nurses, they automatically deprive their children of the opportunity to be breastfed. Yes, I know many, many children are formula-fed for a variety of reasons and turn out just fine, but that doesn’t mean formula is the most optimal food source.

I don’t think artificial gestation should be legal, except maybe for women who can’t carry pregnancies due to fertility issues.