claudia's Journal: A Bun In Another Kind of Oven

It's not just for girls anymore. It's a male pregnancy.

I ran across this site today and was taken for about a minute until the science didn't quite add up, especially about the umbilical cord. Still, it's an intriguing idea and a brilliant hoax. I even fooled a couple of people at work.

But, I started to seriously think about this possibility. Could this technology come about in our lifetime?

When I read Douglas Rushkoff's "Media Virus," I was struck by how he defended talk shows. I've always hated them. However, he postulated they were useful because they helped acclimatize us to cultural situations and possibilities, such as interracial marriages. They helped to make it commonplace.

Could web sites now be doing this for our scientific future?

Solution in search of a problem...

[MonTemplar]

• 
  But, I started to seriously think about this possibility. Could this technology come about in our lifetime?
  

Short of some biological calamity threatening to reduce human reproduction to the point where our survival was at stake, I'd have to respond "Why bother?"

Of course, my mother and sister would disagree, saying that it can't happen soon enough. :)

In any case, if the need did arise, I suspect we'd end up with something akin to the pods in Invasion of The Body Snatchers , or maybe the Ghola's cloning technology from the Dune books.

Re:Solution in search of a problem...

[claudia]

My first thought of why this might be a viable solution, short of biological calamity (and who can discount that these days), was this:

Take a couple who wants to have a child. The woman still has fertile eggs, but has endometriosis so her womb basically is too scarred to carry through a pregnancy. If I was that woman, I'd rather have my partner carry instead of a surrogate. At least you would know they're not drinking, smoking ciggies or blunts on the side when not watching and definitely in it for love and not the money.

In any case, the man would be lucky to just get away with a Caesarean (where did that name come from anyway and why isn't it called a Dianeian?).

Re:Solution in search of a problem...

[bollocks]

"the early history of cesarean section remains shrouded in myth and is of dubious accuracy. Even the origin of "cesarean" has apparently been distorted over time. It is commonly believed to be derived from the surgical birth of Julius Caesar, however this seems unlikely since his mother Aurelia is reputed to have lived to hear of her son's invasion of Britain. At that time the procedure was performed only when the mother was dead or dying, as an attempt to save the child for a state wishing to increase its population. Roman law under Caesar decreed that all women who were so fated by childbirth must be cut open; hence, cesarean. Other possible Latin origins include the verb "caedare," meaning to cut, and the term "caesones" that was applied to infants born by postmortem operations. Ultimately, though, we cannot be sure of where or when the term cesarean was derived." From Here [nih.gov]

But how many women would trust men with pregnancies? I'm not even trusted with the washing machine.

talking mouse

[memfree]

Fun site. I followed the links to the Hospital, and then to the link for Clyven the Talking Mouse [rythospital.com].

Yay!