Tissue Engineering
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Revision as of 16:16, 26 July 2012
No one relies on organ donors or clones for spare parts. Advances in tissue engineering have made it possible to grow organs from stem cell cultures in vats or on biodegradable scaffolds, without the need to clone an entire human. Digits, skin, kidneys, livers, ears, noses, tongues, and genitals can be grown in under a month. Independently growing other organs and body parts (like hearts, lungs, eyes, and limbs) is more complex, and takes up to eight months.
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Fauxflesh Vats
Gengineered cells from livestock tissue are cultured in growth tanks and supplied with nutrients. This creates a continuously growing biomass of lean meat tissue, which is harvested whenever food is required or it gets too big for its vat. In many countries, fauxflesh has replaced “natural” animal meat, which is often illegal.
There is a small but lucrative meat-smuggling trade.
Biogenesis
The most advanced form of tissue engineering is biogenesis, which speeds up the process by using nanomachines to rapidly assemble cells into tissue and organs. Biogenesis is more costly but about 4 times faster, taking weeks rather than months. It manufactures a wide variety of designer organisms, ranging from living toys like skullcats to human-like bioroids.
Biological Androids (“Bioroids”)
Bioroids are humanoid beings created using biogenesis. Most of the parts are biological, but some are not. For example, a polymer or carbon composite scaffolding is often left in place as the frame on which the skeleton was built. Deeper differences from the human norm will be apparent if their cells are examined. Baseline bioroids are designed to accept artificial chromosomes, with “slots” into which genetic engineers can easily plug specific modules of genes. Much redundant “junk DNA” material, such as transposons, is left out of bioroids. Bioroid tissues typically also contain clusters of nanofactories that produce special proteins that the designers couldn’t take time to code into the genes, or which compensate for other shortcuts.
The basic bioroid design is similar to an upgraded human, but with major differences including an upgraded immune system and reduced sleep cycle. All bioroids are sterile (though some female models can serve as surrogate mothers). Many have transgenic modifications that are similar to parahumans, but often more extreme, tailored for a particular occupation. This often extends to brain chemistry. For example, a military bioroid may always feel a rush of endorphins after vigorous exercise, a technical model may be able to go into a single-minded state that lets it focus on a problem, or a pleasure model may go into heat at the slightest provocation. In conjunction with proper training, these tend to result in bioroids who love their jobs.
A newly formed bioroid brain is designed to awaken in a state highly receptive to learning. Brain implants are integrated into the bioroid at this point, allowing it to undergo an intense educational regime that includes virtuality and slinky simulations and vocational training. The “coach” is a personal infomorph hosted by the bioroid’s brain implant, often a mind emulation of another bioroid of the same model who can be a big brother or sister to it. It uses a puppet implant to put the bioroid through physical exercises to build muscle memory, administers punishments or rewards (through non-damaging neural stimulation), and, most of all, encourages the bioroid to constantly strive to excel, solve problems, and reason creatively. This produces a trained, fully functioning “adult” in 1 or 2 years. Depending on his viewpoint, he’s a model citizen or a fairly clueless workaholic whose life experience and worldview are based on whatever slinkies the company fed him when he wasn’t learning job skills.
Bioroids are controversial. People who see them forming in biogenesis tanks or examine diagrams of their skeletons, chromosomes, or nanofactories get a sense of “living machine.” This impression can be reinforced by talking to any young bioroid, who is often similar in personality to every other bioroid of the same model. But a bioroid’s brain and biochemistry are basically human; they have emotions, they reason, and they’re subject to many of the same hormonal drives as people (although those nanofacs often have a say in it). Those few bioroids who are now 20-30 years old can be quite distinct individuals.
Bioroid Status
Most bioroids were acquired by space corporations who required rapidly expanded parahuman workforces for offworld industrial colonies and stations. In 2080, a scandal at a European Union space factory in Lagrange 4 exposed bioroid abuse. The European Union investigated, and later banned bioroid manufacture as “indentured labor.” Others claimed this action reflected E.U. weakness in biotechnology and protected their cyberdoll industry from competition.
In response to criticism, and to protect their market share elsewhere, the “big two” bioroid producers, Xiao Chu and Biotech Euphrates, adopted tougher industry standards. Customers were vetted and certain designs, such as pleasure bioroids, were deleted (except as decereberate bioshells), while others, such as combat models, were restricted to certain government customers. For example, it is presently impossible for private citizens to acquire a Biotech Euphrates “high-lethality AS-2E Felicia-model transgenic combat bioroid with special ops warfare training.” Instead, a customer would have to settle for an “athletic Felicia II transgenic bioroid, with disciplined, team-oriented outdoor survival, paramedic, electronics operation, and self-defense skills.”
Bioroids are not bought and sold. If someone wants one, they will pay a bioroid manufacturer to create and educate the bioroid, but the bioroid itself (as opposed to its gene sequences) is never the property of the company. A person, corporate, or government entity that pays for the creation and education of a bioroid is its legal guardian until the bioroid reaches maturity. As the bioroid is functional after a year or two, this gives them about 14 years of guardianship. Labor laws generally prevent bioroids from being sent out to work for someone else, but it’s legal for the bioroid to work for his guardian’s business, just as minors can work on family farms. Most military forces allow bioroid soldiers if they have legal permission from the bioroid’s guardian.
Pan-sapients rights activists still denounce the bioroid industry as legalized slavery, and recently the European Parliament has said the same thing.
