If you thought the millions of plastic pods artificially “growing” human babies in The Matrix were creepy, wait until you see the animation of “EctoLife,” set to be the world’s first artificial womb facility. A recent video posted online by its inventor, Hashem Al-Ghaili, enthusiastically described a facility where tens of thousands of babies could be engineered and gestated in artificial “wombs” with constant monitoring to check for biological defects and growth. EctoLife claims it will engineer the most “viable and genetically superior embryo” as it is “reinventing evolution,” producing up to “30,000 lab-grown babies per year.”
As EctoLife asserted, “Our goal is to provide you with an intelligent offspring that truly reflects your smart choices.” Because eugenics led to such wonderful results in the 20th century!
Remember how leftists have been telling us for years, and continue to tell us, that we’re overpopulating the earth? EctoLife’s ad explicitly said it is “designed to help countries that are suffering from severe population decline”—something that most of the world is suffering from, including America, by the way. Turns out that forgoing reproducing to pursue high-powered careers, luxury vacations, and an end to “climate change” was not such a bright idea. The solution is not being to have babies the way God intended, of course, but to engineer and grow them in fake wombs. That way, “artificial intelligence” (AI) can monitor your baby for “genetic abnormalities” (it’s unclear what would happen to babies who turn out to be supposedly imperfect).
The one really positive aspect is that the ad uses the word “baby” to refer to unborn children throughout the entire ad, a tacit admission that pro-lifers are correct that the unborn truly are humans and not mere clumps of cells.
There are many disturbing aspects to the ad, however. There’s the fact that parents can supposedly “engineer” everything about their baby in the “elite package.” CRISPR gene editing can “customize” and “fix” the baby, from his skin color to his IQ to his genetic disease susceptibilities, for a “genetically superior” baby. There’s the narrator excitedly explaining how birth will no longer involve a woman’s body (just another way to sideline women while pretending to free them, I guess). Instead, it will involve a mere “push of a button.”
Then there’s EctoLife boasting that it can even send you home to “incubate” your baby with a portable artificial womb, away from its “factory.” Yes, it’s a baby “factory.” And EctoLife will allow you to feel as if you’re interacting with your developing baby and sharing his experiences through virtual reality (VR) glasses. Because the farther from physical reality it is, the better.
The ad expressed a seeming leftist bent by boasting that EctoLife will be powered by “sustainable” wind and solar energy, so you don’t have to worry about your “carbon footprint.” I guess if climate alarmists can’t convince humans to stop having children altogether to save the planet, they’ll artificially grow babies in highly controllable artificial wombs instead.
I found it particularly interesting that the ad claimed, “With EctoLife, miscarriage and low sperm count are a thing of the past.” Some contraceptives have long-term effects on fertility, and studies indicate that COVID-19 vaccines could reduce sperm count too. Did transhumanist leftists create the problem and then provide EctoLife as a “solution”?
The EctoLife ad declared it could help infertile women, or women who have had their wombs surgically removed, to produce biological offspring. But it won’t stop there. No more dangerous C-sections, the ad claimed, and no more labor pains or pregnancy complications. “Say goodbye to the pain of childbirth!” EctoLife clearly plans to be the future norm, not the exception.
I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but this isn’t the first time entities have tried to control human reproduction. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been tied to forced sterilization scandals in Africa before, and the American government approved forced sterilizations in the early 1900s, for instance. Could “EctoLife” potentially become the way medical tech companies or even governments try to control people’s ability to have babies?
Al-Ghaili claimed that scientists have already achieved the “feature[s]” touted in the video, but it is unclear what that means.
“Everything is perfectly designed,” the ad boasted. “EctoLife improves your bonding experience with your baby.” Through VR, “see what they see and hear what they hear.” Who knew scientists could out-do God? EctoLife plans to have 75 labs with 400 “growth pods” each and will even allow you to feed words and music directly into your baby’s brain through “internal speakers.” Parents can also keep the fake womb with their developing baby in their bedroom so that they can have him close. Not as close as God intended, of course, but who wants to suffer pain on behalf of her own baby? EctoLife has a “more convenient solution.”
From the hundreds of baby bubbles lined up in the facility to the scientists who look just like China’s intimidating “Big Whites,” the animated video is weird. Actually, it’s more than weird; it’s a reminder of just how confident modern scientists are that they have the ability and the right to play at being gods.
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