Sunday, September 27
#39 - spare parts
While at the doctor's office for a routine checkup, you see a pamphlet for an ambitious new corporation headquartered in your city. Their main operations involve the development of bionic organs for use during transplants, and the pamphlet notes that at this stage in its life, the company offers free walk-in tours. Intrigued, you head to their offices on a Saturday morning.
After a short wait, a tour guide takes you around to the different parts of the impressive facility, including a showroom and the various research and testing labs.
The company's goal is to develop these fully functional transplant parts without the use of any human or animal tissue, and everything you see seems to indicate that they are well on their way. Initial prototype organs the company created for laboratory mice tested without any failures, and the few doctors who have toured and more fully examined the facility have also come away impressed. When you casually joke that you ought to be investing in the company, the guide presents a different offer.
For this week only, the company is taking orders for their products. Within the next three months, they hope to be producing the following organs: eyes, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys. You would place an order and these replacement parts would essentially be held for you by the company until you needed them. The organs are expensive, and you would run the risk of purchasing something you might never use, but for a limited time you have the option of buying some interchangeable organs for yourself. The organs would be developed for your body specifically and though they could be used in the body of another individual, using the parts in this way would carry some risk. Such an action would not be endorsed by the company for fear that something could go wrong.
When you inquire further about the pricing, the guide responds with an amount that would represent about a month's worth of your income (per organ). No money is necessary up front, but will be due whenever the replacement parts are ready. Any order you place will be treated as a commitment, and when the parts you order have been completed and successfully pass extensive diagnostics testing, you will pay at that time. If for any reason the company is unable to develop a certain organ, you will not have to pay.
Do you place an order?
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5 comments:
I would order some eyes and teeth. And maybe some of that shin bone that feels incredibly fragile.
I don't know if I would order anything for myself or not. At this point in my life it doesn't seem that I'm prone to any problems with any of the mentioned organs (or have a significant risk of developing problems with them later). However, if I could order for other people (is this an option?) according to their needs - for their bodies specifically as opposed to giving them my organs later - I would order two kidneys for my mother and two eyes for my father. (Hopefully we could come up with some sort of payment plan!) My mom has diabetes, so the kidney thing is an issue, and I think my dad would count it as invaluable to have full vision in both eyes again.
I feel like the whole thing would make me feel a little uneasy, the idea of artificially extending my life. I don't think I would buy any internal organs.
I do think I would take a chance with eyes, though. I'd buy an extra eye, maybe two.
Did you know Jerry Orbach was an eye donor and two New Yorkers each got one of his eyes when he died?
I'd take an eye or two. Maybe the heart. It's admittedly creepy, but if it seemed legit I'd probably like to have the 'insurance'...
Wow, an extra organ in the wings would be a fabulous luxury, but I guess I'm just not there. I feel young and pretty invincible. If I felt like I had livers to throw around I'd drink to much; If I felt like I had some extra lungs to burn through I'd smoke too much; if I felt like I had extra legs I'd wiggle them too much. As tempting an offer as this is, I'll pass, and resolve to laugh off regrets if something should go wrong and I'm short an organ. This mortal coil has to unwind sooner or later anyhow.
Cheers!
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