Hacker News Reader

Comment by ocdtrekkie | Hacker News Reader

The article I read earlier specifically said there were ethical concerns with him potentially being able to father children with the donor's genetic code. Which is a weird ethical concern I'd be intrigued to read more about.

View on HN

That creates an interesting twist: since DNA test is legally acceptable as fatherhood proof the recipient could create a lot of trouble for the donor.

I'd assume that the donor in every case (as in this case) would be diseased, so I'm not certain how that could be an issue for the donor.

Perhaps it would be possible (ethical?) to set up a system to provide organs from post-operative female-to-male transgender patients to potential recipients.

Did you mean male-to-female patients (assuming that you're trying to provide penises)? My understanding is that most of the structure of the penis is used to craft various structures of the newly constructed female genitals (shaft for the vagina, glans for the clitoris, and so on).

Oh dear, I did mean male-to-female. <embarrassed face>

Thank you, also, for clarifying that male-to-female gender reassignment surgery wouldn't result in an organ that could be donated.

There have been lawsuits about children born to deceased fathers and inheritance.

So it's a real issue.

For example: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-kids-inherit-sperm-donors-f...

https://cathompsonlaw.com/estate-planning-for-your-embryos-d...

I assume you mean “donor deceased”. Even if I were dead I would not necessarily want people using my DNA to father children.

I wouldn’t necessarily be against it, either, but I would feel I had some interest in how sperm were used in a different way from other organs. I’d also feel differently about something physically identifying like a face, and even more so about the brain/cognition (if there were a way to do a partial brain transplant which carried memories or something but didn’t transfer consciousness — seems unlikely given what we know of the brain today, but I wouldn’t count it out since we don’t really know all that much.)

(if there were a way to do a partial brain transplant which carried memories

Years ago, I saw an interview with a woman on TV. IIRC, she was the first recipient of a heart and lung transplant.

She was asked a question shortly after surgery in which her reply was something like "I'd love to have a beer!" though she did not drink. The young male donor who died in a motorcycle accident did drink. She also reported having dreams and other experiences in line with having somehow inherited some piece of his consciousness. Over time, they faded.

If anyone is curious to read more, this might be her book:

A Change of Heart: A Memoir by Claire Sylvia

That's sounds like an urban legend / exaggerated story.

I hope it is urban legend or exaggerated, because that is terrifying.

Or it's wishful thinking / placebo. The mind is very good at deceiving itself.

Or the subconscious memories could have been transferred through other methods, e.g. socialising with people who knew the donor.

Well, the heart apparently has 40,000 neurons, which is cracking on for the same number as a fruit fly. Although one would assume that they're not arranged for the sort of thing which would make a person crave a beer.

Yeah, more of a "Keep pumping even if the brain upstairs talking to me" would probably the answer to that. I doubt it cares much for beer.

I wonder if it's a less romantic statistic if you look at neurons in, say, the left butt cheek or something.

Well, apparently there's something called Gluteal Amnesia...?

assuming that even worked, i wouldn't expect a lot of living donors, and the timing of decease and birth should clear most everything else up.

and yet uniqueness of DNA is 'irrelevant' in cases of new life..

'medicine' will decide what it wants.

I imagine divorces involving sperm and embryos would be a good source of material.

And those are situations where there is a relationship instead of anonymous posthumous donation.

I guess lots of people don't think it's weird to assert some right of control over their genetic material.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com