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Heavens no -- I don't think society should allow anyone die in car accidents, young and healthy or otherwise. It's abundantly clear that driving is too dangerous by far.

But that doesn't stop me from wanting to know what the US will look like in a future with self-driving cars. Will we, for example, find such a severe shortage of donor hearts that certain unlucky people live less long? Will we prioritize research that could improve treatment diseases which, untreated, lead to organ transplants? Or will we consider changing laws to allow donors to be compensated for organ transplants? (which have all kinds of icky side effects but could help avert a crisis if there were one).

I genuinely don't know what the effects of fewer road deaths will be on transplant wait times and wonder how this externality (if there is one) will be handled.




I would expect more research into organ cloning/regrowth and artificial replacements. It's an interesting question, to be sure.




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