Artificial wombs are coming and so will the laws.

in science •  3 years ago 

The artificial womb for humans is around the corner. It's going to be a wonderful thing for many families, but it's going to be a nightmare for ethicists and authoritarians. The first baby created in vitro (outside of a human body) was born in 1977. We can create sperm and eggs from other cells now using stem cell technology.

Once the tech goes mainstream, it will change our society again. The artificial womb, once perfected, will be better than the real one for obvious reasons. So how many women will chose mechanical surrogates as opposed to carrying a baby to term? I bet it's going to be most, though at first you'll see a wealth gap, because costs will be high. In the long run though, insurance companies will be thrilled to pay for artificial wombs because the costs of complicated pregnancies are so much higher.

And some assholes are going to try to make laws about this. It won't work. It would make black market fertility clinics, DIY artificial wombs, etc.

Science is racing now as the digital revolution enters the machine learning era. Laws are not the answer to deal with ethical questions raised by scientific advancement.

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