A Visit to a Synthetic Cadaver Factory | Hacker News Reader

A Visit to a Synthetic Cadaver Factory

atlasobscura.com

> SynDaver employees like to create monsters from dried out, damaged parts in the finishing room.

This sounds like a fun place to work

They might as well start making their tissues functional, and, bit by bit, build towards synthetic humans that can be used as very lifelike robots. Or why not grow actual organs and put them in?

The need for all the support "machinery"? Lymphatic system to dispose of waste, vascular system to pipe food and oxygen, oxygenation for the blood, glucose production, hydration, temperature regulation... These are hard to implement because the scale from the macro to the micro - from inches in diameter to microns.

woah there, why don't you slow down on the hard science and just let me enjoy West World over here?

Don’t forget the hard parts... self-replication, energy storage and conversion, damage sensing and repair.

So these have to be kept in water when they're not being used? Isn't that messy/inconvenient?

Compared to real cadaver labs? No, not at all.

What about the intricate cellular dynamics of tissue growth? Wouldn't the "proprietary formula of salt, water, and fibers" fail to replicate a set of some [at least observable] macroscopic effects, thus limiting the overall experience deepness for the practioner?

> I can’t tell you how many investors have insisted that we start making sex dolls

I wonder if they could at least sell components. The artificial skin in particular sounds like it could be worthwhile on its own, though maintenance could be tricky.

At first glance, the price seems prohibitive compared to a real cadaver

That was not my reaction. But then, i guess i haven't gone cadaver-shopping recently. What's the going rate?

...going to be useful on Halloween!

A "little" above my budget ;)

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