• wabasso@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    Curious if you’re thinking of any cases where we’d need a safeguard for any parts of the body other than the brain? Like would a whole human minus the brain be OK?

    I guess there’s the whole identity theft and impersonation side of things.

    • Narauko@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      The main concerns I see are if it is actually only individual organs, and things like your rights to your own genetic code/cell lines.

      • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        Yeah but can you give more details? Like what’s an example of something bad happening if it’s more than individual organs, like your entire body minus your head for example.

        • Narauko@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Like Henrietta Lacks, who I mention in another reply, who had her cells harvested from a cervical cancer treatment and propagated indefinitely to be used as human medical specimens. Pharmaceutical companies have already attempted patenting portions of the human genome, so having them take sections of your personal genome if you have an allele mutation they find profitable is a concern. Using your genetic code like an advertising fingerprint to sell you treatments or services. Selling that data to third parties. Making registries of people with specific genetics for use by Governments to regulate or oppress, either eugenically or ethnically.

          There are multiple movies where instead of growing individual organs they clone people for harvest, which I would hope is just too far beyond the pale to ever leave Hollywood but, then I remember shit like Unit 731 and Josef Mengele. That last one isn’t really a real fear, but had to mention it.

          • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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            6 hours ago

            OK yeah I’m getting the picture now. I need to GPL my genome one day.

        • Narauko@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Exactly what I am talking about along with the immortalized cell lines stolen from minorities. I have no problems with people donating themselves to science or being appropriately compensated with thoroughly informed consent, the advances to science are critical. I just don’t want the biomedical equivalent of OpenAI stealing IP happening to make the 0.1% even richer.