[MUSIC]
Introducing EctoLife, the world's first artificial
womb facility powered entirely by renewable energy.
[MUSIC]
EctoLife allows infertile allows couple to conceive a baby
and become the true biological parents of their own offspring.
A single building can incubate up to 30,000 lab grown babies per year.
>> 30,000 lab grown babies per year.
That is what the company EctoLife is currently researching and working on.
They are basically trying to create a company that provides artificial wombs for
women who might have difficulty conceiving because of health issues and whatnot.
Now, I should also note that the video you saw is not the actual place.
>> Was there a live shot?
>> No, it wasn't just in case.
Okay, so-
>> I thought there was a really creepy babies like that.
>> It was a video simulation.
>> Yes.
>> Okay, it's important to be clear with people just in case.
And we are, in my opinion, a long way from actually seeing this come to fruition.
But before I give you all those details, let's
watch a little more from this super creepy video.
>> Mm-hm.
>> It's a perfect solution for women who had
their uterus surgically removed due to cancer or other complications.
With EctoLife, premature births and C-sections will be a thing of the past.
EctoLife is designed to help countries that are suffering from
severe population decline, including Japan,
Bulgaria, South Korea and many others.
The facility features 75 highly equipped labs.
Each state-of-the-art lab can accommodate up to 400 growth pods or artificial wombs.
[MUSIC]
Every pod is designed to replicate the
exact conditions that exist inside the mother's uterus.
>> Cool.
[LAUGH] I don't know- >> They bring up some good points.
>> They do.
>> There are a lot of people that it
could help theoretically, people who have a lot of money.
It could help anyway.
>> So question.
>> Yeah.
>> Because I'm wondering what the audience thinks too, because
I understand the urge to have your own biological children.
I do.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And I don't want people to feel like I'm judging them
or looking down at them because they want their own biological kids.
But there are a lot of kids who need homes.
>> Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people who,
yeah, that'll be one of the big critiques, but.
>> Yeah.
>> That's gonna be convincing to some people, but not to other people-
>> Yeah.
>> Who wanna carry their own child.
>> And by the way, adopting also comes with its own set of challenges.
There was a period in my life where
I was considering adopting and then decided against
it because I really like thought about the pros and cons and so look, I get it.
Whatever.
It's a personal decision.
>> Yeah.
>> I don't want anyone to think I'm
judging them for whatever they decide to do.
With that said though a lot of issues come up with this, all right?
So I think that there are good uses
for this technology, especially when they list all of
the ailments that women might have that prevents
them from being able to have their own children.
Biological children, of course, maybe they had a hysterectomy cancer.
You guys get the point.
There are some ethical concerns as well, and we'll talk about that.
But just thoughts- >> Interesting.
>> In general.
>> I mean, look, it's just a promotional video.
It's hard to know.
They gave all these specifics about like each thing can have 400, based on what?
Why can I have 400, not 500 or 300 in
this scenario that you've totally made up based on absolutely nothing.
I never understand that stuff.
>> Mm-hm.
>> I get that they're trying to sketch out a future.
I don't know how far advanced the technology is.
We keep hearing every year that the technology is getting better.
But in my experience, the lab growing stuff
never tastes as good as the real thing.
So they can claim that it's authentic but no, I look-
>> Have you tried lab grown meat?
>> Not baby [LAUGH].
>> No, I'm not, okay, that's a completely different thing.
>> [LAUGH] >> Scientists going into grow meat.
>> No, I've had fake meat, it's a variety of types.
>> Okay.
>> Not the lab grown experiment.
I don't think anyway.
Yeah, look, I think it could be helpful for a lot of people.
>> Mm-hm.
>> I think a lot of people who just might find
the pregnancy might interfere with the way that their life is going.
It's an option.
>> Yeah.
>> That I could see being popular in the future.
But bear in mind that this is a solution to a problem
in a context where lots of people don't have basic health insurance.
>> Yes.
>> Already.
>> Yes.
>> This seems really like an edge case and there are definitely people it could help.
>> Yeah.
>> But-
>> But most of them probably can't afford this if and when it becomes available.
Let's also be clear about that.
For instance.
>> I'm glad they're working on it-
>> For people who desperately wanna get pregnant,
they're having difficulty, and they're going through in vitro.
In vitro not covered by most insurance plans.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Astronomically priced.
>> Yeah.
>> A close friend of mine just really
tragic had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
Because she had the cancer gene, she did a double
mastectomy, and they also did a hysterectomy and all of that.
But she hadn't had kids yet.
She was only 30.
>> Mm-hm.
>> She really wanted to have kids, and they did have twins through a surrogate.
>> Mm-hm.
>> So it's like the cost of a house, man.
It is so expensive.
>> Yeah, very expensive, so and that's a certain number of procedures over a
certain period of time not also full
hospital quality lab facilities with advanced technology-
>> Yeah.
>> For nine months.
>> Yep.
Okay, so let's talk about how feasible this is.
Is this really something that could happen in the near future?
Well, professor Joyce Harper who's the head of reproductive science
and society group at University College London's Institute for Women's Health.
That's a super long title.
Says this, I have no doubt that at some
point most people will be produced by in vitro fertilization.
I wish that they asked for her to elaborate more on that.
>> That most people.
>> Yeah, that was a little concerning but let
me continue and that this EctoLife would be a possibility.
In science, I think you should never say never.
I also think EctoLife should reconsider their branding.
>> Mm-hm.
>> EctoLife is a weird clunky name.
>> It's just I grew up drinking Ecto Coolers, it just seems related to that.
>> I don't know what that is.
>> It was like a juice box that was a brand tie
into Ghostbusters, and it tasted like
you'd expect Ghostbusters drink to taste [LAUGH].
My God.
>> I'm assuming that's what's in all of these baby pods, it's just Ecto Cooler.
>> My God, well.
>> Kids come out a little blue and a little yellow.
But anyway.
>> So Joyce Harper also points out that the first four weeks of gestation
can already be completed in an IVF lab, which blows my mind.
And now premature babies can be cared for from
around 21 weeks in an incubator within a neonatal unit.
>> Mm-hm.
>> All right, so some of this technology
is already there, it's already working to some extent.
So what makes this crazy sounding facility even more realistic?
A pregnancy is normally 40 weeks.
Man, 40 weeks of pregnancy sounds disastrous and over half
of it now can be done in the neonatal unit.
So really, it's under 20 weeks of gestation time that
scientists have got to figure out how to do safely.
It's not really that far away.
>> She's the expert, but just doing the arithmetic
on how many weeks we get it down to.
So it's not that far.
I don't think that's how the development of technology works.
>> Well, I mean Professor Harper highlights that lambs have been developed
from earlier prematurity, but we're some ways off completing this with humans.
I do think that this will happen, but not in my lifetime, she says.
>> Okay, then and not that close, then.
>> Then, she.
>> She's fine.
>> Speaking from both sides of her mouth.
>> Yeah.
>> But I accepted.
>> Sure.
>> Yeah.
>> By the way, I feel about this the same way I feel
recently about the cause to colonize mars or about the nuclear fusion thing.
All these things are great and people should work on them and they can be
inspirational to young kids who might wanna
get into stem or something that is great.
At the same time though, there are far more feasible technologies
available that we should prioritize and fund to solve these problems.
Again- >> Like what?
Emphasizing adoption and things like that.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Maybe getting health insurance companies to actually
subsidize some of IVF and things like that, which
they don't do, making sure legally the IVF is
available because the Republicans are definitely coming for it.
When it comes to energy, we're getting hit in the face with sun rays all day long.
Let's capture more of them use more wind
energy, more wave energy and things like that.
There is a lot of renewable energy out there that
is more easily attainable than nuclear fusion at this point.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And I worry that these Moonshot
technologies while they should be pursued and funded.
Could get some people to believe, well we don't need to do the difficult
things now because someday we press the button and all of our problems are solved.
>> By the way, that is a good prediction,
and I heard that argument literally yesterday on the show.
>> What argument?
>> Well, it was a show where the two hosts who tend to lean
conservative were arguing like this is why
I'm not really worried about climate change.
Because human ingenuity is incredible and they're gonna find a
solution and they were talking about the whole nuclear fusion thing.
>> [LAUGH] >> Is this 60 years off or something?
If that.
>> No, we're all gonna die.
>> And that's electricity generation.
>> [LAUGH]
>> Which does produce a lot of the emissions in our planet.
It's not all of the emissions and by then there
will be tons of environmental damage already baked into the equation.
You can't quickly remove that stuff once it's in the atmosphere.
Even if we in 50 years, press the button, all of electricity immediately turns from
dirty forms of energy to nuclear fusion, we're
still theoretically in mad max at that point.
Yeah, I know things are bad, so when people have that kind of
thinking, when they just are under the
assumption that like, things are really bad.
But don't worry, the humans who have
destroyed everything are gonna fix it or they're-
>> Yeah.
>> They're gonna save us.
I don't know how I feel about that.
Anyway, so the ethical concerns have more to do with.
It's like the same thinking behind like,
no, designer babies, that kind of stuff, so.
>> Which they'll probably offer.
>> Yeah.
>> Definitely.
>> So professor Shinan says there're all sorts of biochemical and immunological
things that go on that we probably don't understand yet in relation to.
And this is like some of the issues, all right?
So there are antibodies that fetuses get from being in a mother's womb.
>> Mm-hm.
>> And so that's something that they need to deal with.
But in terms of ethical concerns, I mean, I feel like people
are already doing the designer baby thing through the in vitro process.
[LAUGH] So.
>> Yeah.
>> That's what the scientists are arguing.
I really don't know how I feel about it
yet, but this is some technology that they're advancing.
We'll see where it goes.
I don't really think we're gonna see it in our lifetimes either.