babies should be grown in pods
i am totally stealing this from ryan’s blog - the original can be found here. he wrote it awhile ago, but it’s such a good idea, i had to re-post. i think i’m going to wait it out on the biological kid front until pod babies become a reality.
Over the last couple years, I’ve watched a number of friends have kids and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m so glad that I’m a guy and don’t have to go through that. Pregnancy and childbirth seem awful, so I’ve been wondering what the alternatives are. Turns out there’s some research that’s been done in the area of artificial uteruses. Of course, such technology is years, maybe even decades away, but imagine if you could have something like this in your living room:
I can see four main reasons that this would be a hugely positive thing:
* Pregnancy is hard on a mother’s body. Childbirth is worse. Skip them both.
* Safer environment for the fetus
* Allows women unable to carry their own child to still have kids
* It’s a lot more convenient and less painful
I think one of the biggest benefits is the last one. Who says that having kids should be a miserable experience? And I’m sure that many women would choose to give birth the “natural” way, just as many women currently choose to forgo the benefits and advances of modern science and medical technology. That doesn’t mean the rest of us should.
To be clear, I wouldn’t be in favor of this if it wasn’t as safe (roughly) or safer than natural gestation. And I think that pod-babies should have the same rights as natural babies, meaning that you shouldn’t be allowed to unplug the thing if you change your mind after a few months. But if the method can be made safe and we can enact the proper ethical and legal policies, then bring on the pod-babies.
Am I crazy? Is this treating humans as commodities? Tell me in the comments.
Note: that’s a picture of the WinePod, in case you’re wondering. no actual babies or fetuses were harmed in the plagerizing writing - of this blog post 
March 27 2009 11:41 am | family
March 27th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
ever heard the phrase “Nothing worth having is easy”?
March 27th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
sorry, but i don’t think that something worth having should be absolutely as difficult as humanly possible. if there’s an easier solution with the same end result (i.e. - you want a kid and you end up with one) why not.
most of us don’t wash our clothes by hand any more, or grow all our own food, or write our term papers out by hand - but clean clothes and food and good grades on papers are all worth having. if technology makes something easier, we - as a society - tend to take advantage. and why shouldn’t we?
sorry, “argument” defeated. if i decide to have biological kids and there’s ANY realistic way i don’t have to go through the child bearing/birthing process, sign me up.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:37 am
You’ve obviously never been pregnant and experienced the JOY (absolute JOY) of feeling your baby move for the first time…or the extreme sadness many moms experience after having their babies because they don’t feel that movement inside anymore. Yes, there are pregnancy discomforts, but the love and joy that are experienced during pregnancy simply cannot be put off into a pod. The bonding that occurs during pregnancy is there for a reason. And, childbirth really isn’t that bad with epidurals and other medication options. No, it isn’t a picnic in the park, but it’s not the end of the world, either. And, yes, your baby is worth it. ALL babies are worth it. I’d go on, but you obviously don’t understand…and you won’t until you have your very own baby from your very own uterus.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:11 am
thanks for the comment! nope, never been pregnant, so i’m not much of an authority on the subject
as the blog mentions - of course you CAN experience everything the natural way, but if you didn’t have to, why should you? if this ever became a possibility, and assuming it was safe, i’m sure the biggest argument against it would be the emotionality aspect but that’s not a big enough reason for me to scrap the idea.
the biggest argument for kids and pregnancy is the “you’ll just understand when it happens,” and right now that’s not enough for me, especially when it comes to putting your body through something so brutal. pod babies would also be a great option for people who couldn’t naturally have kids - and it would definitely cut back on the cases of “extreme sadness” where a mom loses a baby.
but, this is all hypothetical, and realistically it probably won’t happen in my child-bearing years. maybe i’ll want to have a biological kid, maybe i won’t - i’m still way too young to have to make that kind of decision! (thankfully :-)).
even in the 21st century, women are still led to believe that at some point, they should have biological kids of their own, but that’s not right for everyone, and it’s definitely not enough of a reason to put yourself through that experience if you didn’t have to.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:10 am
ps - my husband, who actually wrote the original post, says i should point out: i’ve never known the “joy” of building a log cabin with my own two hands - or the sadness of watching it burn because there’s no fire department w/in 20 miles. but that’s definitely not to say that i SHOULD know those feelings. fortunately, companies build houses now, and i can live in a city where i’m only a few blocks from a fire department.
just because we CAN do something the hard way (as i told luke) doesn’t mean we SHOULD. welcome to progress
March 30th, 2009 at 9:28 am
We cure diseases instead of dying from them. We crap in the bathroom, on a toilet instead of the woods. We buy houses instead of build them; we buy eggs instead of raising chickens; we buy our children clothes instead of weaving them; we used horses instead of walking, now we use cars instead of horses.
There is nothing noble about suffering through something unnecessarily. Effort, pain, and risk spent for the same thing which can also be had for free is meaningless.
March 30th, 2009 at 10:04 am
thank you rex. i’ve been trying to make that point in my preceding comments: you cut to the chase. there is nothing (biblical or otherwise) that says we have to suffer instead of accepting modern technology. in fact, if you look at our advancements as a blessing because of the resources we’ve been given by god, there’s no reason not to take advantage. of course, we still have the CHOICE to go through all the effort, pain and risk - and there’s nothing wrong with deciding to do that, in most cases (i.e building, raising, weaving instead of buying, etc), and people do still live this way. but it’s just that - a choice, and not an issue of right and wrong. (as some people i’ve had this discussion with, here and elsewhere, have argued.)
the road to pod babies will apparently be a tough, emotional one, if this blog is any indication
March 30th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
[...] morning - actually, as i was further explaining why i think pod babies would be so great, to someone who was arguing against the idea - ryan (somewhat) jokingly asked me [...]