The future approaches, whether we like it or not. I’m not frantic about the idea of exowombs, but I can absolutely understand it if other people are. There are any number of ethical pitfalls just waiting for the unwary, here:
Inside what look like oversized ziplock bags strewn with tubes of blood and fluid, eight fetal lambs continued to develop — much like they would have inside their mothers. Over four weeks, their lungs and brains grew, they sprouted wool, opened their eyes, wriggled around, and learned to swallow, according to a new study that takes the first step toward an artificial womb. One day, this device could help to bring premature human babies to term outside the uterus — but right now, it has only been tested on sheep.
The leap to human clinical trials may be delayed for a while, though. This is one of those topics that is, as they say, fraught. Lots of emotional energy involved, not to mention people on hair triggers. They may decide to just use this technology on animals for a while. Which would certainly make the people running endangered species breeding programs happy, so there’s that.
On the off chance you’ve somehow missed it, go forth and read Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga .. especially “Shards of Honor” and “Barrayar”
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(Moe – please Kindle-ize this .. https://www.amazon.com/Shards-Honor-Vorkosigan-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B005BH9T86)
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Uterine replicators are at least three significant plot points.. a touch Bujold returns to in “Diplomatic Immunity”.
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Mew
I do not buy Bujold in hardcover. I buy Bujold in ARC, because that’s the fastest way to inject more Bujold directly into my brain. 🙂
I concur, although that only helps once she’s completed the writing process ..
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Mew
The early volumes are ALL available via kindle format on their free book site baencd.thefifthimperium.com you’ll have to dig around a bit.
Yeah, that’s true .. although it’s technically a fan site .. and a central collection point for the most insidiously addictive substance on the planet .. snippets ..
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(It’s also not how writers get *paid* .. and I like for writers to get *paid* ..)
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Mew
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p.s. Another author who thinks writers need to get *paid* .. http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/09/15/fisking-the-huffpo-because-writers-need-to-get-paid/
A step up from Axlotl Tanks, I guess.
I suspect that there’s more than one regime out there that wouldn’t mind boosting its population more ‘efficiently.’