But like… why babies? We already have way too many of those. We need fewer babies.
Capitalism has a need for unlimited growth and also most national pension systems globally take the current working generation’s money to pay for the retirement of the current retired generation - so the future working generation needs to be big enough to support the current working generation in turn.
My own country did a footgun thing here. We had a mandatory 2nd pillar system where you contribute to a fund, the gvt matches (well, doubles) your contribution, and that gets added to the normal 1st pillar national pension when you retire, either you take it out as a lump sum, or get paid a portion of it per month. You literally couldn’t take money out of it prematurely. Except the right-wing populists decided to allow taking money out of it with the caveat that you can’t rejoin it for
pumpkinseedoil@mander.xyz 1 month ago
That’s already a thing in many countries, an opt-out program for organ donating, so by default they will take my organs if I’m braindead
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I mean a step or two beyond that- like keep a braindead body alive via feeding tube and ventilator so it’s just constantly generating blood that drips into donor bags. Keep just enough in the body’s circulation to keep it ticking, but bag the rest – it would produce WAY beyond the output of a mind-intact donor.
Bone marrow transplant? Done. Skin grafts? Hit it. Fucking hair for wigs? Plasma? Hell, even fecal transplants are a thing (restores GI microbiome that got wiped out… it’s gross as fuck, but it’s a thing - and it requires the donor to follow a VERY specific diet, that can now be force-fed).
Basically anything the body passively generates that we have some use for; keep a braindead-human-cattle-donor on life support and milk it for all it’s got.
…that sounded a bit bit like a sales pitch - gist is to illustrate just how far we could take this. Putting the focus on babies will just worsen the population problem, but also showcases an extreme lack of imagination!
Rooty@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Ok, repeat after me: “Warhammer 40k is not an instruction manual”
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Silence, Heretic
anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
I doubt the blood is more useful than all the organs required to produce it.
But if I lie braindead in a hospital, I would be happy if my body is divided up in the way a doctor determines to be the most useful for society.
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Depends on the needs of the patient. If you’re bleeding to death and the hospital you’re actively dying in is out of your blood type, then absolutely blood is more useful than organs.
If you need a new lung, a huge stock of blood transfusion bags isn’t going to do you much good.
The goal would be for supply to outpace demand for all of the above.
Shapillon@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It really depends on your blood types.
psud@aussie.zone 1 month ago
That’s on track. Children are too expensive now so birth rates everywhere are below replacement rates already or will be soon
We may find the real population problem is we will have fewer smart people to help us fix the climate problem
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Oh no, there’s no ‘may’ about it - we’re 100% fucked on that front.