> Actually I would be *very* cautious about this. What worries me is this
> : there's a lot of evidence to suggest that infants are a bundle of
> expectations - possibilities waiting to be fulfilled by events in the
> world.
Hmm, exactly what evidence do you refer to here? You wording is
rather fuzzy.
> Artificial wombs would have many positive benefits, for sure, but I
> worry that infants raised in them might be mentally disturbed by the
> lack of typical womb-like sounds and sensations, and also the responsiveness
> and 'feedback' or 'communication' between mother and child in-womb (e.g.
> infant shifts position, mother shifts position, stuff like that).
That ought to be noticeable in the sheep that are brought up this way
(it is very unlikely basal stuff like this would be restricted only
to humans; mammals in general have some clever ways of ensuring the
mother-child bond and emotional development). If it really is
important with a more natural artificial womb the lambs ought to show
averse emotional reactions when brought up.
My personal main worry about the procedure (as shown in the brief
film clip I saw) was that the womb was transparent and in a lighted
room. I'm not certain, but this *could* affect the development of
vision (both positively and negatively).
We'll see when the data is published.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
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