Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00368)

<stevestubbs@yahoo.com> wrote:


> Hi, Bill:
>
> Thanks for your support. Yes, with organs fetching so much money
> there have been concerns expressed in the press that some people are
> getting "harvested" when theu are still kicking.
>

Well, Steve, we do have two of several organs. Ever wonder why? Perhaps we
should be willing to donate the extra one to a brother who needs it. Would
you donate a kidney to your child or brother or sister if it meant a chance
at a normal life for them? Would you expect them to donate one to you?

> Let's face it, medicine is a business, just as oil and politics and
> war are businesses. There have been speculations that people might
> be grown in third world countries in due course for the purpose of
> harvesting valuable organs.

Mauri might want to jump in here. He is the recognized authority on
speculations on this list. I think we already grow people to harvest our
tomatoes down here in the south, so maybe after tomato season we might be
able to get more bang for our investment by harvesting the harvester as
well. Steve, you're on to something here and I want you to know that you
have my support in whatever you decide to do with those illegal aliens that
cross over into your state.

It makes me wonder if it will soon be
> illegal to hang around too long and prevent valuable organs from
> being exploited on the market. Human rights are well and good, but
> business is business. Predicting the future is always risky, but
> that would not surprise me at all. The movie LOGAN'S RUN may come to
> be true as well.

Great idea! Plus the hearts and lungs harvested from the runners will
probably be in pretty good shape.

At an absolute minimum we are going to see
> an "ethical" argument over who owns someone's heart, for example,
> whether it is the person who happens to be using it, or someone else
> who might be able to ake a fortune selling it on the open market.

Well, I'm not sure any single heart would make anybody a fortune.
Especially if we were following your suggestion to raise them en masse on
body-part farms in the southwest, but I suppose a Celine Dion heart (from
"My Heart will go on Forever" fame) might be worth a fortune.

> The question will be framed as one of legal ownership, whether your
> brain, for example, belongs to you or some well connected plutocrat.
> Even if it never gets past the debating stage, it's going to get
> interesting, that's for sure.
>

Well again Steve, I want to be supportive. You know that we use only a
small portion of our brain. Some even less than that. Maybe we should just
give the rest away.


> Did you hear on the news today that Bush is threatening other
> countries with nuclear war?
>

No I haven't heard the news today. Played golf this morning and spent the
afternoon writing Wry. But it all fits doesn't it. Why go to all the
expense of raising new kidneys and hearts from a fetus when we can just kill
everybody on the planet and be done with it.

> Steve
Bill