this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2024
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's an incredibly expensive bad idea. Dialysis will likely be necessary and the beating heart corpse just kind of slowly breaks down over time with multi system organ failure. 9 months would require a heroic effort at life support. Makes sense it was suggested by a philosopher. She also suggested using male bodies as incubators. Might as well use pigs if you're going that far. Humerous that the philosopher that suggested it was a woman though.

It is a good thought experiment to gauge where people stand on brain death and personhood too I guess. I obviously think a body with a brain that is dead to the stem is just a corpse. That brain will actually end up liquefying because it is actively necrotizing.

In reality, I also agree with the premise that actual surrogacy is worse. An economic trade where someone rich buys someone else's health is no different than buying a kidney. So that point they made is absolutely not wrong. Surrogacy should be abolished, though this obviously has no chance of taking it's place.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

This has very little to do with what our actual dystopia will do. I mean, I thought that this was by someone who was probably thinking of the families that lost someone to a coma and had been looking for grandchildren, but no, they are seriously suggesting this simply because of its utility.. Even so, all hail the new future tech bro hivemind and all, but still, not very likely. If it is something that is capable of being truly considered by societies, it will also be capable of considering worse things over it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Death Stranding spoilerSo we're really gonna try bridge babies, huh?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

id love to keep it "boring"

the "interesting" parts of a dystopia arent usually very healthy for us...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I say sex work to help pay for health care.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Gotta get that birthrate back up somehow, and having an equitable society obviously isn't an option

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Good news boys, if we're willing to use women this way, we can actually do the same for men! This is one unique sexual reproduction horror story that can in theory be inflicted on both sexes!

Pregnancy without a uterus, impossible! You say. But ectopic pregnancies are a thing. We all start out as parasites. As an embryo develops, it looks for a surface of flesh rich in blood vessels to latch onto. The primary function of the uterus is to provide an inner lining that is sort of a "disposable surface." The inner lining is rich in blood vessels, the ideal environment for a zygote to latch onto and grow from. The embryo can integrate its blood vessels with the uterine lining and thoroughly mess those up. Then after pregnancy the whole inner lining is just sloughed off. That in inelegant terms is the uterus - an organ that produces a nice safe surface for the zygote to latch onto that won't harm the person carrying the pregnancy.

But, things don't always go well. If a zygote somehow tears through the uterine wall, then ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy outside the uterus, can result. And this a serious life-threatening medical condition. The fetus as it develops will latch onto not the intended uterine surface, but the vital abdominal organs. Giving "birth" in this case is done surgically, and it's more akin to cutting out a cancer than a healthy live birth.

But while it hasn't been tried due to the obvious health risks and huge medical ethics issues, there's little reason to think that ectopic pregnancies couldn't be carried in a male admomen. DNA and chromosomes shouldn't be a barrier. The placenta that the fetus grows is evolved to prevent the fetus from being rejected like a donor organ. It's not like mothers and infants share their DNA.

So in theory we could use men in vegetative states as one-time use surrogates. There has been research proposed and papers written on the possibility of trans women carrying children via uterine transplant, but this method, deliberate artificial ectopic pregnancy, is in principle a lot simpler. You don't need to transplant a delicate organ and find a way to carry a pregnancy while taking anti-rejection drugs. You just implant an embryo in the surrogate abdomen and let it go to town. Let it latch in to whatever internal organs it wants. Then after nine months, just cut open and discard the surrogate father.

It wouldn't be as simple as just implanting an embryo. The pregnant vegetative man would likely need to have his hormone profile monitored and heavily manipulated. But this is easy enough. Testosterone production could be nuked by simple castration, and erogenous estrogen and progesterone could then be introduced as needed before and during the pregnancy. After the pregnancy, it is unlikely the man would survive. So this is a one time deal. But if we're OK treating people in persistent vegetative states like resources to be exploited, I see no reason to throw out half of our potential surrogate population simply because they happen to be men.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Basically face hugger reproduction from the Alien franchise?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

Essentially yes. Again, we all start as parasites. A uterus primarily is just a way for pregnancy to be survivable. But in theory it is perfectly doable in males.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy#Ectopic_implant

As that article notes, pioneers in reproductive healthcare have even commented that it would likely be possible. We just don't do it because it's medically unconscionable to deliberately create an ectopic pregnancy. It goes against the whole, "and first, do no harm" principle. But if we're throwing ethics to the wind and involuntarily impregnating people we consider already dead anyway, why not do the same to males?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This should be a horror movie plot

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Yeah, that's the kind of persistent vegetative state you don't want to wake up from.

But really this kind of abuse of people in these states goes way beyond pregnancy. If we're willing to do this to women, why not keep vegetative patients of both sexes alive for years as continuous blood donors? I could easily see someone justifying that, especially if the victim has a rare or that universal donor blood type.

Or how about organ donation? We do currently take organs from deceased donors, but usually it's a one time deal. When it comes time, if the person is a willing donor, you pull the plug, and then harvest whatever organs you can that you have a recipient for at the moment. But you could make that a lot more efficient if you could keep the donor alive for a long time, perhaps years. Just keep them alive, waiting for someone in need. Someone needs the first kidney? Give it to them. Someone needs a second kidney? Give it to them and put the donor on permanent dialysis. Someone needs a hear or lung? Take the donor's and keep them going via artificial means. Or maybe we could take skin graft after skin graft, growing new skin again and again. Treat them like sheep being shorn. It's the difference between having to use a butchered animal up all at once vs being able to freeze most of it for later. Hospitals could have whole wards of these donors caught for years in a state of half-disassembled living death.

This is an ethical Pandora's box we REALLY do not want to open.

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[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The fact that anyone would need this amount of mental gymnastics to find reason enough to relate to the women potentially being targeted, to be against it, is pretty fucked up in its own right.

A large part of how patriarchy works is that men aren't expected to, so often don't, give a shit about the harm it causes until something impacts them directly, and even then, they will only actively oppose it if it harms them significantly more than what the patriarchy benefits them (toxic masculinity being a prime example of self harm many men are reluctant to fight).

Catering to this feature of the system only perpetuates it. Stop creating convoluted ways for them to relate (even "your mothers and sisters" shouldn't be needed), and start expecting, and demanding, they simply consider and therefor treat all humans equally (which magically leads to caring about what happens to women just as much as they would if it were men under threat).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

I don't know, I think OP is making A Modest Proposal

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

With all due respect, you seem to be actively seeking to be offended. This comes down to bodily autonomy. And providing an example of how this effects everyone is not some monstrous thing perpetuating the patriarchy. I think you're a little too deep in the gender theory here.

I'm a trans person. I have had to fight for bodily autonomy my entire life. The fight for bodily autonomy is what ultimately connects trans rights with what are traditionally labeled "women's issues." Ultimate the right to abortion or contraception is about the right of everyone to bodily autonomy. To have final ownership and control of your own flesh and blood effects women's reproductive rights, trans rights, the right to die, organ donation, etc. This goes way beyond just traditional women's issues.

And honestly, the scenario isn't convoluted or absurd. If the government did ever allow this kind of surrogacy, there would be no need to confine it to just one sex. Hell, I would be actively petitioning to apply it to everyone regardless of sex. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and I AM that pettty. I would absolutely demand that atrocities be applied equally. And if we're doing this, we're probably also doing involuntary organ donation. So again it all comes back to bodily autonomy.

What is horrifying about this proposal is not that it would be done to women. What is horrifying about it is that it would be done to human beings. And I don't feel the need to throw up artificial barriers and get offended that someone would dare to point out the broader implications of this beyond narrowly defined and ghettoized "women's issues."

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago

No, you don't understand, people's lives can only be thrown away in accordance with tradition. Men die in wars, women are exploited for children. You can't cross the beams, frogs will turn gay!

You will get this passed as soon as we have a gender neutral draft and 50-50% wartime casualties between genders.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

IMO

We don't need more people in the world right now. We should be concentrating on figuring out how to agree on having and applying the best support for the ones we already have first.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

You'll be glad to know that populations around the world, particularly in energy-intensive nations, are starting to decline. Some, like the US, are propping this up with immigration (for now) but places like South Korea, Japan, and a lot of Europe have been below replacement for some time.

And to a lot of people this would be a good thing. Fewer people means less impact on the planet and more to go around for everyone. But a lot of our systems are predicated on eternal population growth. For example, a lot of countries have pension systems that require there to always be more young people paying into it than there is old people taking payment.

Then you have the problem of who does the jobs that these retired people rely on. If there are fewer young people to do all the jobs in society, how will the non-working elderly buy groceries or get medical care or have packages delivered or clothes to wear? Automation can solve some of this but not all of it, plus who's going to develop and build the robots?

It's going to be a very drastic change in how societies are organized, especially combined with how the Internet and climate change are going to affect society. Hopefully we'll come out the other side a little smarter.

Goddamn ancient Chinese curse, stupid interesting times....

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Welcome to the Wisconsin State semen/fertility donation center! We have dressing rooms on the left and on the right we have rooms with permanent donors! Like in restrooms you'll see rooms for men where we'll have our braindead "moms" set up to your penis precise height. If its for women, you'll find our braindead "husbands" layer out in reachable love seats. Please ignore the fluffers, they are all volunteers who's job is to ensure the highest quality erections.

We have lay away if you find a suitable partner but need more time. And no, we don't rent out the mothers and you cannot take them home for birth day. It all happens here, our staff is the best....

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There is no way in hell they’d have an option for women to rape men for their sperm. No fucking way. Women getting their rocks off is against sky daddy’s wishes.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

So the Tleilaxu are real ??

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't know what this has to do with capitalism. This sounds like a shitty lab experiment which can happen under any form of government or economy. Oh wait I checked and it's from .ML. I am posting this in the hopes to get banned from that entire instance because blocking didn't seem to work.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nah bro, just read more theory bro. You just haven't had dialectical materialism explained to you the right way bro. Don't worry bro, give me like a quick 4 hours and it'll all make sense.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Marx was right about so many things it’s wild considering he was writing about this shit in the late 1800s. He wasn’t perfect but the fact that so much of it rings true in 2024 is impressive.

But like Jesus, it’s his fucking followers that are so goddamn annoying.

And the whole read more theory bro shit is fucking ableist and classist. I had a brain injury as a teenager and I struggle with longer reads especially stuff written in a version of English that isn’t current (sure it’s not Shakespeare which is impossible to me even before the TBI but it’s also not 2024 English) and also very dense. Most Americans can’t read beyond a sixth grade level, good luck getting them to read theory when they won’t even read simple novels for pleasure.

And no amount of theory reading is going to make this anarchist support an authoritarian system. I don’t trust people in power even if they’re people I agree with. There’s something fundamentally wrong with people who seek power regardless of ideology…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Mikhail Bakunin sounds more your speed tan Marx

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Probably. It’s on my reading list that I can’t seem to get to lol

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