Rapper, tech entrepreneur, and human URL Will.i.am says the world will need new “codes and morals” to deal with the ethical implications of 3D-printed humans. “If you can print a liver or a kidney, god dang it, you’re going to be able to print a whole freaking person,” said the Black Eyed Peas founder in an interview with Dezeen. “Now we’re getting into a whole new territory. Moses comes down with the 10 commandments and says ‘Thou shalt not.’ He didn’t say shit about 3D printing. So new morals, new laws and new codes are going to have to be implemented.”
Wow.
Will.i.am says he believes that the technology to 3D print humans will be available in “our lifetime,” adding: “I’m not saying I agree with it, I’m just saying what’s fact based on plausible growth in technology and Moore’s law.”
Um. Not the same here. We’re talking about cells and tissue, which is infinitely more complex than any computer that we’ve ever built. We’re talking nerves, organs, vains, and much more that computer chips. 3D printing is pretty awesome, Will.i.am, but the likelihood of us printing humans, full humans, in our lifetime is slim to none. Now androids, yes. But we don’t even know what makes life, well, life at this point. What we will see is transplant organs printed, which we’re already seeing. Though, they don’t look like real hearts, real stomachs. No, they are mechanical. Which is fine, as they work. But this, just like normal transplants, creates no issues with the Mosaic laws.
There is no need to rewrite the 10 Commandments. No one pay attention to the crazy rapper with a weird name throwing out random, science-fictiony ideas and trying to usurp religious morality.