A Hypothetical Scenario of Future Reproduction

[Lastlivingsoul]

1) I can't trust the most "Free" nation in the world to properly count my vote. Why in God's name would I let them touch my sperm, much more my kid's sperm.

2) Hypothetically the first government Neuter/Spay Squad that shows up at my door for my son/daughter's 16 Birthday gets his head blown off by a .5 Desert Eagle. There's your population control. My reaction would not be unique in Texas either.

THE most Dystopian future I've heard of to date. At least in the Matrix the Machines left your fun parts alone.

[Polybius]

1) I can't trust the most "Free" nation in the world to properly count my vote. Why in God's name would I let them touch my sperm, much more my kid's sperm.

2) Hypothetically the first government Neuter/Spay Squad that shows up at my door for my son/daughter's 16 Birthday gets his head blown off by a .5 Desert Eagle. There's your population control. My reaction would not be unique in Texas either.

THE most Dystopian future I've heard of to date. At least in the Matrix the Machines left your fun parts alone.

So much this. It's pretty effed up.

[Mormolyce]

Actually none of that is necessary - it may be possible very soon to create viable gametes from something as simple as a skin cell. We've already managed to reverse engineer a skin cell into a stem cell, beyond that we just need to coax it into becoming a sperm or an egg. We can then create viable embryos from simple host tissue without the need for sexual contact and irrespective of the fertility of either participant.

Also, irrespective of their GENDER. Like, you can take a skin cell from a woman and create a sperm, or from a man and create an egg. True homosexual sexual reproduction may be possible within our lifetime.

http://www.academia.edu/1763101/Stem...x_Reproduction

[DEATHETERNAL]

Have fun being rebelled against.

[Kaleredar]

Am I seriously the only one that's picked up on the fact that this situation is almost verabatim what happened in the Dystopian Novel "Brave New World?" It's a pretty old book... and required reading in most high schools that I know of.

For those of you not in the know, in Brave New World, there's one world society that are ruled by a select few elite oligarchs. (Almost) All humans are born in test tubes on massive production lines. Specific "batches" of humans, tailored to specific castes and jobs, are created through early psychological and embryological manipulation to be of certain "intelligence" levels (I think there were four or five.) The ones at the top are the scientists that, among other things, oversee the birth of further humans. (All scientific advancement in other fields is highly guarded by the Oligarchs, as is access to most books and other sources of knowledge for fear of them being "dangerous.") The caste levels progress downwards until the lowest caste, which are significantly mentally impaired and serve as menial labor.

All humans in the society are conditioned from a young age to be mass consumerists to artificially inflate and drive an economy. They are constantly encouraged to take Soma, a mind-numbing drug that makes them complacent and malleable. In the interim, they are encouraged to have frivolous sex (including engaging in government-sponsored orgies.) Personal relationships or dedicated partners of any kind are highly suspect, and free expression beyond your caste is frowned upon. Women are conditioned to practice rigorous birth control measures, and the terms "mother" and "father" are seen as crass and embarrassing slurs. The last vestiges of real human civilization are relegated to "savage reservations," where native populations, left largely alone by the world state, are seen as popular and exotic tourist destinations, and the people living within seen as oddities with their concepts of "religion" and "family."

The citizens of the one world society are highly encouraged to conform to societal standards (mass consumerism, soma consumption, whiling time away, no relationships) or risk ostracization. Intelligent, upper caste individuals that are disruptful or threaten the status quo are exiled.

Stop me when this is getting too "out there..."

[Yvaelle]

So... it's Brave New World, then?

To be fair, 1984 was supposed to be a warning of a dystopian future too - but we are already well past that

Edit: Also ya I get the BNW reference in it.

[Kaleredar]

To be fair, 1984 was supposed to be a warning of a dystopian future too - but we are already well past that

They've yet to build a giant concrete pyramid in my city.

[Deleted]

Why do you need 'milking'. There is artifical sperm being researched and created today (if I read it correctly it only reproduces gurls). An all female society could be a good sci-fi way to go. The dying days of males where thier primary utility is physical labour and servitude. Equality is not a rule of nature, natural selection is. Technology and evolution have precluded natural sperm from procreation and the men are slowly being replaced as the gender fades into obsolescence.

A tumblr feminazi's dream.

[WarpKnight]

I'm not normally one of those Internet Libertarians that so often spout forth their views.. but this can't really be anything other than a bad thing, can it?

Can the state really be trusted with such absolute power? History doesn't really paint a positive picture of nation-states with such total control over their populations.

As for the future of the human species... I'm a firm believer in transhumanism, specifically cybernetic transhumanism and the melding of machine and human. However, this hypothetical scenario can also create innumerable similar problems as it becomes possible for the State, or private entities, to exert power and control over body parts/machines incorporated into humans.

However, unlike the scenario you described, with mind-uploading or cybernetic integration it becomes possible for the individual to gain an extreme amount of power. One could plug their mind into a huge network, vast arrays of machinery, and control it with their mind, something that isn't quite as likely to be possible with normal humans. This in itself helps counter the absolute control that the State or megacorporation would otherwise have. It won't be necessary to have millions or billions of sentient minds attached to large amounts of automatic machinery to run a civilisation. It IS however necessary to have this many biological humans to have this kind of interplanetary civilisation you describe.

If we as a species remain totally as we are now, then individual autonomy, self-determination and freedom of will are effectively doomed as technology increases in effectiveness. Telescreens in every room... (wait, aren't we there already? hi NSA)

[Skayth]

You're going to need a much more compelling argument than this to suggest that our mechanism of reproduction is inherently bad for us, and that we should therefore no longer let it happen. Pregnancy leads to a reduction in cancer risk; is the suffering from cancer really less detrimental than a miscarriage? Fewer menstrual cramps, incentives to take care of oneself, improved immunity, etc. While the risk of death with modern medicine is extremely minimal, these benefits benefits the majority of women, if not all women.

Secondarily, you need to examine the cost of replicating an ex vivo reproductive system. The complexity is beyond imagining; you would need to replicate epigenetic and immune system modulations that happen during pregnancy and immediately after birth, not to mention things like flora and antigen access. And we don't even know what the psychological impact of an ex vivo birth could be on the baby itself. But even if we did know everything and were able to replicate it, my point is that the cost would be high. I don't ever see it being more efficient/beneficial to have an artificial system for reproduction.

Yea, I know I need a more compelling argument. But, that is why this is a hypothetical future.

Second, the only time it is going to cost "alot" is when it is being first created. Then its a downward slope, as they get perfected, and the parts get cheaper. Think about computer from then to now. You can even add the values of a high end machine (with inflation) to a high end machine when they were first created. The first computer that was created? hundreds of thousands of dollars. What is it now? a $5 dollar calculator, at most.

Whose property would these children be? Would two individuals with genetic imperfections be able to reproduce without the governments approval? Would we even use our own 'materials' for our own children or could you end up with an African or Asian kid as a white couple and vice versa? Would the government try to enforce racial preservation in form of race quotas having to be filled each year within a newborn population? How about gender? Try to enforce a 50/50 gender population?

Nah, I can already see a million ways the government could fuck us up the ass. I'm gonna say no to this. It's not in their place to have this kind of power.

lol you are talking about the government now, which would be the worse thing ever. But, basically if you want a kid, in this view, you go to the doctor with your partner, and the doctor gets both of your genetic material and puts them together inside the artificial uterus. There is no "racial" over tone or anything. Enforcing any sort of racial quotas would be bullshit, and gender would be as it is now. Would it be closer to 50/50? Probably.

This gotta be one of the worse in the near future scenarios I've ever read.

how so?

1) I can't trust the most "Free" nation in the world to properly count my vote. Why in God's name would I let them touch my sperm, much more my kid's sperm.

2) Hypothetically the first government Neuter/Spay Squad that shows up at my door for my son/daughter's 16 Birthday gets his head blown off by a .5 Desert Eagle. There's your population control. My reaction would not be unique in Texas either.

THE most Dystopian future I've heard of to date. At least in the Matrix the Machines left your fun parts alone.

You realize this would be in a distant future, where humanity, as a general population, has no need for weapons. That a neuter/spay squad would not happen in such a way. And the way I described it, the Female would STILL BE FERTILE, even without her eggs, so if she truly wanted to, she would be able to go and have a natural birth. The way I am describing it is, they go in for a check up at the doctors, 10 minutes later, they are back out with you.

And the way you describe it, is you believe the United states will still be a government in the next 200 years. sadly I see anarchy before that, as the U.S. downfall is the true name of it, United Corporations of the Filthy and Corrupt

The matrix did not leave your fun parts alone. How do you think they were able to produce that many children to be batteries for them?

[Kaleredar]

how so?

Go read brave new world. I implore you. This is exactly the society of that book.

[Skayth]

Go read brave new world. I implore you. This is exactly the society of that book.

Oh I read the book, and it was amazing. And honestly, we should also take a few lessons from it as well. Mainly the recreational sex.

But, on the caste systems, it would be very possible. Yet, in there society, everyone is fine. There is no despair in poverty, and anyone can have anyone. But, For my purpose, there is no caste system in place. Could they have children just become soldiers? Oh right, thats something that governments have done in the past, and probably still do will orphans. But in this place, no a child has free will of what to do.

1984 is already in place. As much as people say it isnt, it already truly is. BNW, is an eventual evolution of the society, but I do not wish to see the caste system given in place, nor the alterations of the fetuses. Is it possible? Of course. But, to me, I hope there is some humanity left, to find the greater goals in life, not just be contempt with "caste" systems designated to you. Hmm. The best example I can truly think of for a society archtype would be star trek: TNG (as TOS never really hinted much at it, but Picard explains it well)

[Rabidwhale]

One main issue is see is that pregnancy allows the child to survive for the first few months outside of a sterile environment because they adopt their mothers immunogolbin before they start producing it themselves, but I guess we could just make that synthetic too. I'm all for a regular milking though.

[Velaniz]

A woman, by the time they reached puberty, has around ½ a million eggs, and most modern family, right now, have 3 or less children. Not to mention each healthy adult male, in a single ejaculation, can release between 40 million to 1.2 billion sperm. What happens with all the left overs? Well, they can create population on a hair's notice. Need more soldiers? Need to colonize a future planet? Need a new work force?

Fuck yeah let's start this already.

[Madness20]

Eugenics? No, thanks. We need diversity.

P.S: Also, it's also wrong to think that genetics and imperfections will say much about a person's life. That's all up to education, socio-econimical and even political conjecture.

[Deleted]

This is to be honest a bad move i catched the line with "do we need more soldiers?" or something like that, yah you cant just expect yourself to be a human being when your only producing people to use as cannon fodder.

That is just a really retarded thing and i am actuely for abortian

[Deleted]

I like the part where we're going to use this newly created reproductive efficiency to breed an army to send to die on some pitiful backwater planet.

You mean like the clone troopers, created by the Galactic Republic to serve in the Grand Army?

[speehs]

It sounds nice and logical, but it would pave the way toward eugenics. Sooner or later, only the healthy and intelligent would be able to use their sperm/eggs for reproduction (think Gattaca). While that sounds ideal on paper, I think our imperfections and diversities are what make us a strong species.

Did anyone else hear the song "In The Year 2525" when reading this topic?

[haxartus]

Reproduction by machines sounds easier, but in case of a technological breakdown it could mean the end of the species.
You are not addressing the problem directly. Seems more reasonable to rewrite the human DNA from scratch and just remove all of the problems. The new humans will be immortal from natural causes, free of any kind of disease and they will be able to turn off/on reproduction by will. We could also implement new features into the code, like real genetic memory, which will contain all of the important information that the human race has gathered during the centuries. This way the information could never be lost as long as there is at least one human alive.

[Raeph]

So, let me put a hypothetical question in your hands. In the distant, or not so distant, future, artificial uteri (plural of uterus) are created. With this creation, population control becomes non-citizen controlled. Why? Because now females now have all there eggs removed at the time of puberty. Men are “milked,” thus taking out equation of natural births. Now, children are not normally born through natural births, rather artificial births.

What it would take away would be pain from the women side of things. As it is, women use birth control to control there cycles and lessen them already. Not only that, it helps them to prevent pregnancy, as it is... “birth control.” Would this induce menopause? Honestly? I would think so, even though would leave a woman's ovaries rather than removing them completely, there still are no eggs. But, with ingeniuity of science, specially by this future I am talking about, a woman should be able to remain fertile till her sixties, if she so wished, and be given her own egg and her partner's semen, to have a natural birth, if she so wishes.

Humans still feel pleasure from sexual intercourse, so it would not take away this pleasurable thing. It would completely cut out all the birth controls (if we have a cure for hiv/aids/stds, otherwise condoms might still be a plus). There would no longer be any sort of debate over the rights of a pregnancy (is it alive? Is it not? Is an Amoeba alive?) to the point it was no longer up to an individual to decide, rather, the human race itself.

Would this take away your right to have children with your partner, if it was artificial? No, not at all. You would still have children through the form of artificial uteri. You would be able to raise your children and everything, like now a days. You just bypass the pregnancy.

It seems like there are only pluses to this. But, here is the thing. A woman, by the time they reached puberty, has around ½ a million eggs, and most modern family, right now, have 3 or less children. Not to mention each healthy adult male, in a single ejaculation, can release between 40 million to 1.2 billion sperm. What happens with all the left overs? Well, they can create population on a hair's notice. Need more soldiers? Need to colonize a future planet? Need a new work force?

A little bit of faq's before you decide to comment positively or negatively to this scenario. Would there be regulations? Of course. Would the world be unified by now? It should be, and not corporation controlled. Why the hell am I even asking this? Well, its a little something I am writing about in a sci fi story, and wanting to see the reaction of your views.

Tell me what you think. And tell me why.

Three things concern me with your scenario:

State sponsored population control.
The separation of parents and their children.
Conversion of humanity to a disposable resource.