More than a million people have seen the recently released “Ectolife” clip. It shows a kind of mechanical baby breeding. The problem: many think it’s real.
Granted, this video is the stuff of dystopian nightmares. People in protective suits walk through a sterile super laboratory, babies are in small glass cases that are connected to tubes and electrodes. Under the glass box, a screen that displays information about the current condition of the child. In the middle of the room are two huge silos that contain nutrients and oxygen and suck off and recycle waste from the lab kids.
A baby to order
A robotic voice cuts in: “Introducing Ectolife. The world’s first factory with artificial wombs, powered entirely by renewable energy.”
What follows are eight more minutes of increasingly gloomy future fantasies that are otherwise only known from cinema films. Real problems that many couples who want to have children are struggling with serve as a basis. “Ectolife” allows infertile couples to father a child of their own biologically – and is therefore perfect for women who cannot have children of their own. Even premature births and caesarean sections are no longer necessary if you rely on “Ectolife”.
Each baby factory, it is said, can manage 400 embryo capsules, the structure of which should not differ from that of a real uterus. A single location, it is said with maximum dramatic background music, can produce 30,000 children every year.
“Ectolife,” it goes on to say, can prevent adolescents from coming into contact with germs – everything is absolutely sterile. In addition, thanks to numerous sensors, a child’s health can be monitored every second, and “genetic deviations” are also easier to recognize in this way. If desired, the video continues, you can use an app to follow how the offspring are doing in their capsule.
Of course, the closeness to the mother-to-be has also been considered: With “Ectolife”, not only can playlists with music be played into the artificial womb via an app, but you can also serenade the child yourself via your smartphone. You don’t have to do without the child kicking you in the stomach either, a vest with appropriate vibration motors is provided for this, which simulates it – if it suits you.
After that it gets even wilder: The so-called “Elite” package from “Ectolife” is supposed to allow the embryo to be manipulated in 300 different properties as desired – so that in the end the perfect child hatches from the capsule.
“I’m about to puke”
The video can shock, right. If what was shown was real. Unfortunately, it proves once again that you shouldn’t just dump such a concept onto the internet without context – or warning. The video has been doing the rounds in relevant Telegram groups for days and is being forwarded like crazy. The reactions range from short comments, from “I’m about to throw up” to extravagant tirades.
For example, one channel with nearly 35,000 subscribers said: “So instead of figuring out why fertility is declining and fixing those factors, the solution is to capitalize on people’s broken biological abilities and sell them back to them. […] However, with previous experiences of the global agenda, we can all think 2 steps ahead of what is really at stake, namely total state birth control. What kind of beings will they be, decoupled from the mother’s body, how much technology is in them and how much human. […]”
Just a concept
There is no real company hiding behind the video, “Ectolife” does not exist. The video, the idea and the concept were penned by Hashem Al-Ghaili, a producer and filmmaker with a background in molecular biology. He himself writes on his website that he is concerned with “imagining the future”. At no point is there any mention of such a factory actually being built in any way.
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Al-Ghaili claims to use his scientific and technical background to develop brand new concepts. The molecular biologist relies on diverse research that he believes could come together in this form – but are still a long way off. With a look at his other videos, this quickly becomes clearer. There he shows, for example, a nuclear aircraft that is to serve as a hotel or a global space station.
Of the star asked Hashem Al-Ghaili for a statement on how serious he is about “Ectolife” and what his intention is behind the release of the lavish video. So far there has been no response.
“Never say Never”
Of course, the individual components in the “Ectolife” video are based on scientific theory and practice. Certain sub-areas of the artificial insemination shown there exist and are partly used in medicine. But such an overall concept is currently far from reality.
The British”Huffington Post‘ spoke to Professor Joyce Harper of University College London’s Institute of Women’s Health. She said: ‘I have no doubt that most people will eventually be conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). And that “Ectolife” would be a possibility. In science, I think you should never say never. I’m quite old and I remember watching Star Trek where they did video calls and I never thought I would FaceTime my kids.”
There are major ethical hurdles in the way of technical implementation. Research on embryos is currently only permitted up to the 14th day – after that the work may not be continued. For a project like “Ectolife” you would have to relax this rule – and that should – if it happens one day – take years.