Older women often find themselves too old to have kids, and regretting it. Such women would have gained by freezing some eggs when they were younger. But when younger, they didn’t think they’d ever want kids, or thought the issue could wait.
Sure, if you leave out enough information and throw around enough half-truths the bad PR of anything can be alleviated. What Robin proposed is not a simple storage service.
For one, it gives people an incentive to sabotage their friends' relationships to lessen their chance of bearing children in the usual fashion.
Consider doing the same thing with a towtruck company - like frozen eggs, it provides a useful service, but one that you only need if a misfortune has occurred. It would feel very uncomfortable to bet on a friend's car breaking down.
This seems to me like it could be a real problem where each person has the history of their social lives recorded across all social media. With that record of history, one could actually generate a prediction market where people could bet on bad things happening to them.
I feel a bit uncomfortable at the idea. Commercial transactions in general take a lot of getting used to. For most of us, we get used to commerce as we are raised and it takes years, and we rarely apply it within familied. Most people aren't exposed to selling or buying eggs, and I'm not surprised that many people feel strange about it. Subjecting other personal things to commerce would probably get the similar reactions.
Including the purchase of the egg at the start, and oportunity/interest cost over 20 years, you'd have to be charging more like $200,000+, so it's clear why it doesn't happen.
I knew you would have the math. :-)Egg donors are scarce largely because most applicants are denied. You have to have a virtually flawless family and personal history, and be attractive and from the right ethnic group. They wouldn't be so scarce if you accepted all applicants.
As per my previous comment, I'd modify that to also include info about the egg donor's:0) Photos (!).1) Field of study (in addition to the GPA, as you've noted), IQ still preferred.2) Health information (last, but *not* least).
Optional: In fact, given the recent strides in genome sequencing, I'd go as far as to make the DNA info itself available for prospective users/investors.
Lastly, while I understand your concern regarding admission's favorable legacy criteria, I think the more important things are wired-in capabilities and characteristics of the person (e.g. IQ and motivation, facial appearance), of which an Ivy League degree is merely a proxy. I think it would not be prudent to invest in acquiring an Ivy League egg just to get the progeny admitted there. People have a larger set of criteria for selecting eggs other than just the donor's school of matriculation.
Well said.
Ah, I thought it was about reducing costs insurance style to make the idea more attractive. Thanks for explaining.
There was an op-ed in the New York Times a little while ago about egg freezing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014...
It says that the success rate per egg (of carrying a baby to term) is only 6 to 8 percent for women over 35...
Sure, if you leave out enough information and throw around enough half-truths the bad PR of anything can be alleviated. What Robin proposed is not a simple storage service.
I believe that framing this as a storage business would alleviate the bad PR of selling a woman her own eggs. The offer is roughly:
We will harvest and store your eggs for you. You might not ever want to have children. If so, no problem. You pay NOTHING! We will bear that risk.
If you want your eggs, you pay the extraction and storage fee of $xx + $xx / year of storage.
For one, it gives people an incentive to sabotage their friends' relationships to lessen their chance of bearing children in the usual fashion.
Consider doing the same thing with a towtruck company - like frozen eggs, it provides a useful service, but one that you only need if a misfortune has occurred. It would feel very uncomfortable to bet on a friend's car breaking down.
egg harvesting is a complicated procedure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
not worth going through if you don't have control over the process.
"Imagine the fun buying and selling conditional shares regarding the young women that you know"
Robin, I love you, you are indeed a rare creature.
However the above idea manages to violate multiple different unstated taboos that our society holds.
If I tried to come up with an idea that would offend western liberals as much as possible, I don't think I could do better than this.
This seems to me like it could be a real problem where each person has the history of their social lives recorded across all social media. With that record of history, one could actually generate a prediction market where people could bet on bad things happening to them.
I feel a bit uncomfortable at the idea. Commercial transactions in general take a lot of getting used to. For most of us, we get used to commerce as we are raised and it takes years, and we rarely apply it within familied. Most people aren't exposed to selling or buying eggs, and I'm not surprised that many people feel strange about it. Subjecting other personal things to commerce would probably get the similar reactions.
It's different. This effectively is employers paying women to keep working.
Including the purchase of the egg at the start, and oportunity/interest cost over 20 years, you'd have to be charging more like $200,000+, so it's clear why it doesn't happen.
I knew you would have the math. :-)Egg donors are scarce largely because most applicants are denied. You have to have a virtually flawless family and personal history, and be attractive and from the right ethnic group. They wouldn't be so scarce if you accepted all applicants.
How does one preclude the other?
Coincidence?http://www.nbcnews.com/news...
Good writeup, Sir.
As per my previous comment, I'd modify that to also include info about the egg donor's:0) Photos (!).1) Field of study (in addition to the GPA, as you've noted), IQ still preferred.2) Health information (last, but *not* least).
Optional: In fact, given the recent strides in genome sequencing, I'd go as far as to make the DNA info itself available for prospective users/investors.
Lastly, while I understand your concern regarding admission's favorable legacy criteria, I think the more important things are wired-in capabilities and characteristics of the person (e.g. IQ and motivation, facial appearance), of which an Ivy League degree is merely a proxy. I think it would not be prudent to invest in acquiring an Ivy League egg just to get the progeny admitted there. People have a larger set of criteria for selecting eggs other than just the donor's school of matriculation.