"'We give them transfusion of young blood. We keep their metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of course, they don't look like that. Partly,' he added, 'because most of them die long before they reach this old creature's age. Youth almost unimpaired till sixty, and then, crack! the end' (pg 111).
The irony of the logic used in this messed up world continues to astound me in chapter seven. At a young age, all the embryos are conditioned to be able to fend off disease. Ironically, I do not believe the majority of those diseases even exist in the real world, though they do outside the safety of the Hatchery. Still, it seems a bit strange that a society would find it necessary to immunize everybody if they will never be exposed to it. Also, the idea of keeping someone young (do I smell a similarity to that random epic we read sophomore year; Ulysses maybe?) , when they will have a lower life expectancy than the savages of New Mexico. I think that the irony of this situation may best be described by some of the "Community Code of Ethics" - assuming they have them in a Constitution that is. This is a world that lives by the logic that "ending is better than mending." Maybe this continues here because they will precondition the body to ward off disease, but if they are unable to fight it off, then they will die. No treatments will be applied to help mend the dying person. How this relates to anything in the story is still beyond me, but I think that this trip to New Mexico with the diseased savages could possibly put the "stability" of the glassed world in jeopardy.
"Contagious diseases for 2000, Alex."
I see your point. If they are not going to treat an illness later, why immunize embryos against nonexistant ones?
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