[ExI] Stem cell breakthrough

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Mon Feb 3 21:08:44 UTC 2014


On Feb 3, 2014 12:53 PM, "Ben" <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'm convinced that a lot of the complexity of our bodies is not only
unnecessary, but dangerous.  It's no wonder that we start falling apart
after a few decades, and that when things do go wrong, we can't fix them
without doing more damage to an already damaged body.  Most current medical
practice seems to be the equivalent of thumping a malfunctioning tv in the
hope that it will make things better, and the more advanced techniques
might involve poking a screwdriver in a handy hole and wiggling it about.
 The more adventurous researchers seem to have ambitions to develop methods
to repair dodgy microchips, or re-solder circuit boards.  Nobody seems to
be thinking of figuring out how to rebuild the thing so that faulty parts
can be easily and quickly removed and replaced.  The sooner we stop
thinking of the body as something magical and sacred, and start regarding
it as what it is - a complex machine - the better, imo.

Problem is, try to actually design and build the modular architecture you
are talking about, of equal range of functions as the human body, and have
it running for many years without high maintenance.  It is not as easy as
you imagine.

And then there is the problem of moving people from their current bodies to
this new architecture.

Replacing organs individually looks to be a lot more achievable.  If done
for all or most organs, in theory it even yields the same end result.
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