Lotus Life
Will the advent of artificial child-bearing give birth to a new culture?
By Alexandra Whittington
I. The protest
Faces covered in ghoulish and comical plastic masks surrounded and jostled her as she raised her protest sign toward the sky. The protesters were hiding their faces from the biometric detectors which would out them on social media and law enforcement databases as enemies of the state, especially women and babies. It was the sort of smear that was difficult to bounce back from. What kind of a person hates life?
Maribel loved life, actually. As a 22-year old college student in 2032 her life seemed perfect. She lived on campus in a beautiful smart dorm building, with roommates she had known as online friends since childhood. Coming together to live and study in the big city had always been their plan. They were from different parts of the U.S., but their geographic distance mattered little, given their access since birth to mobile phones, internet, multiplayer online games and social media. They were a tight group whose friendship had only grown stronger since connecting in 2030 via “meat space” to attend college in one of the largest U.S. cities. To Maribel, it seemed perfectly normal to live with friends she’d Facetimed with her entire life. They felt like family.
She looked at her hand holding up the protest sign and noticed her mother’s pearl ring shimmering on her finger. Maribel had worn it since she was twelve, when her mother had passed away. She had been sick for some time already when she asked Maribel to wear it after she died. A weakened immune system due to a genetic disorder had caused Maribel’s mother succumb to the flu epidemic in 2020. In the years since, friends had become her family.
Her roommates supported her activism, though none of them joined her at the protest that day, or any previous day, now that she thought about it. She was alone in a crowd, with her sign and her mask (a withered Ronald Regan face). In 2032 protesters would create songs or sounds on their devices to play out loud, rather than chant. The masks were a must to block biometric identification, but voice ID created a similar risk of becoming tagged, arrested or otherwise ostracized for expressing extreme beliefs. She wondered in how many of her social media images she was wearing that same pearl ring, and if it would be enough to identify her if the police broke up the protest.
Maribel didn’t consider herself extreme at all. She found the new technology indefensible, even though it was one of the most universally celebrated life-saving devices invented since the discovery of a new antibiotic in 2025.
The antimicrobial resistance crisis which the WHO contemplated as “the end of antibiotics?” in 2016 created some insanely dangerous times for a while. Maribel’s mother was just another statistic. Before the discovery, almost every resource on earth was focused upon finding a new medicine to fight evolving pathogens forming deadly bacterial infections. A cut or wound that would once be simple to heal became life-threatening. Elective surgeries were not recommended. Dental work was highly controversial and often turned to antiquated practices that drew on folk wisdom. Childbirth itself had become a risk not worth taking and birth rates plummeted for years. Then the artificial womb was created.
Maribel could see the value of the invention, but it just struck a nerve somehow and she had to speak out against it. Today’s protest was at a Tiffany’s jewelry store and focused on a new accessory for the in-home artificial womb; the pregnancy pendant. This particular product, a necklace, was meant to simulate the actual mother-child bonding that takes place in utero. So it would change and evolve during the gestation so all your friends could see how “far along” you are. The womb necklace involved sensors set to the womb itself which allowed little vibrations and flutters to be communicated to the wearer each time the baby kicked. The pendant would gather the pheromones from the wearer’s neck and molecularly transmit the information to the fetus. The jewelry was also wired with mics so that the wearer’s voice could be constantly transmitted to the baby, just like during a traditional pregnancy. The womb and pendant were being sold to people as a natural and evolutionary choice. To Maribel, it seemed immoral to commercialize the sanctity of life, especially knowing humanity had been given a second chance from to the medical breakthrough of 2025.
It was five years too late for her mother, but medicine and healthcare came back even better than ever upon the discovery of the new antibiotic drugs. Humanity benefited greatly from all the medical innovations that occurred starting in 2025, which made health a much more universal right and allowed many developing countries to catch up and often exceed developed world standards of living.
By 2030, when artificial womb kits were becoming household names, people were confident that science and the march of progress were living up to the promise of delivering a better world. One of the most important public health indicators, infant mortality, could finally be conquered and no babies (or mothers) had to die in childbirth any longer. Growing up during the antibiotic crisis, Maribel never imagined a world where all pregnancies brought to term survived….it was the ultimate of medical achievements.
So, here she was, a feminist medical anthropology major, protesting behind a mask against the invention of an artificial womb which would support women’s health through ensuring uneventful gestation and births of babies. Having grown up in a health crisis, dreaming of a future in medicine, it made no sense for Maribel to feel so strongly against the artificial womb.
II. The dorm
Back at the dorm, Maribel was ready to take a shower and eat. The dorm offered delivery of almost any food you could think of, so she called up some dining apps on her phone and requested the meat substitute and vegetable pizza. They had a meat lab and vertical garden on the premises, where the biotech students worked. The modern university had grown to be a highly sustainable ecosystem. Maribel had a sense of pride knowing that her education was giving back more than it took away. She tried to embody this principle through her activism. She had a privileged life growing up, having survived childhood illnesses, and she felt obligated to make a difference.
“Why Ronald Regan?” Justin, one of her roommates, asked her when she described the events of the day over the meal.
“He’s the father of the conservative movement in America. I’m trying to embrace my new-found conservatism.” She couldn’t believe the words.
“You, a conservative?” he asked. “You’re the most liberal person in our entire group.”
“I thought so too but now that I’m working on the class project about medical technologies, my feelings about the artificial womb confuse me. I believe in women’s reproductive rights, but I don’t agree that obliterating pregnancy is the best way to equality or to ensure healthy babies. What about the bonding and hormonal aspects of pregnancy? How can a baby develop in some cold impersonal machine? What about a woman’s right to experience carrying her own baby?” She was really just talking to herself because Justin didn’t judge her for her views. He was there to help her sort out her own feelings, doing what a friend is for.
The artificial womb idea appealed to many of Maribel’s peers, which is something that was discussed frequently in class and in social settings. She recalled the discussion in one of her classes a few weeks ago when one student commented, “So many members of our generation have decided that marriage isn’t for them, but still want to become parents. The artificial womb is cool because it’s like a new person, your child, could become a member of your group of friends, romantic partners and roommates and just sort of fit in.”
Maribel was rather appalled. “Don’t you think it isn’t so much parenting that appeals some people, but the idea a new family member suddenly appearing out of nowhere? Someone to love and love you back. Don’t you think we’d be just manufacturing relationships? To summon someone into being like that just seems so selfish.”
For half a decade, having children had become intimidating because of the lack of antibiotics, so families with young children were uncommon. Instead many households were composed of adults involved in a “chosen family” of other adults. But, since the rebirth of antibiotics in 2025, there had been a rebound of families in America. This time around was different, though. The invention made it possible to have a child not only without marriage and not only without sex. An artificial womb technology makes babies possible without pregnancy. And it was slowly becoming a new normal.
“Are you still thinking about asking David to move in with us?” Justin asked, changing the topic slightly and bringing her back to the kitchen where they were sharing a 3d printed pizza.
Modern friendships are few but lifelong in the 2030’s. People might live with college roommates for years after college, even after forming meaningful romantic relationships. Many friend groups who were also housemates would include several couples among the friends. So, Justin knew all about David, her first and only romantic partner. David had met all her friends already and they seemed ready to accept him into their living quarters, where he would share a room with Maribel. The cool thing about David was that his mom was a professor at the university, so he knew a lot of people and had grown up in the place. He actually grew up in their dorm building, and his mom was in fact Maribel’s favorite anthropology instructor.
“Yes, I think it’s a good time for that. He’s really interested in getting to know all of you better and being a part of our group. It might be a little awkward at first, with me being his mother’s student and all, but I’m prepared to make it work. Eventually, I’d like to ask him to marry me. I want to have kids.” Maribel answered honestly. Justin had been her closest friend for a long, long time.
“You’re so old fashioned!” Justin was sure she knew he was teasing but half serious; Maribel had always had such outdated ideas about relationships. She’d already been seeing David a year, and was just now getting around to asking him to move in. She insisted on calling David her “boyfriend” which was so retro, and tried to keep to a lot of the traditional dating rituals that were common back when dating was a precursor to marriage and then children. For Justin, that idea had died out with penicillin. Today’s couples were more interested in spending time on their own lives for a while. “I want to seek self-actualization until I am at least fifty. There is too much to do and see now that it is safe to travel again.”
“That’s easy for you to say, but we women have to pay attention to our biological clock … unless we agree to have little Franken-babies that hatch in the living room.” Maribel was back to her favorite subject, bashing the artificial womb technology.
“What’s the big deal? I know your opinion, but don’t you think anyone and everyone deserves the right to reproduce? How can you call yourself a women’s health advocate if you prefer for women to bear the pain and suffering of pregnancy and childbirth?” Justin could always ask the right questions.
Maribel wasn’t upset, she appreciated the honest dialogue with her friend. “I guess next you’ll ask me why I oppose giving babies the chance to develop to term for 40 full weeks in a fail-safe environment that is attuned to their every need? It’s because nature already designed that perfect system, in a woman’s body.”
“Well, I like the pink one.” Justin stated.
“What pink one?” Maribel asked.
“Lotus Life. It’s one of the most popular artificial womb designs being advertised — I saw the commercial. It comes in blue, pink or white and it is shaped like a lotus flower.”
“Oh, lotus, I get it…. life, rebirth, immortality. Oh, God.” Maribel rolled her eyes. “I love how conception now has a marketing department.”
“What does David think?” Justin asked her, not sure if Maribel knew what he knew about David.
“He’s very supportive of my activism, actually. It’s his mom who likes to argue with me.”
III. The classroom
Dr. Lowery was always early to the classroom to prepare for her students’ arrival. They were a small group, anthropology being a much less popular major than coding, biotech, medicine and environmental studies, to name the more common fields of study at the university. She had been a professor a long time and gave up more than she could even remember anymore to become one. Besides her career, the most important thing to her for the past twenty years had always been her son, David, who was one of the biotechnology agricultural students at the college. He had grown up there, literally, living in the dorm building with the sustainable gardens. He was now working on hybrid plants that could grow in rocks or sand with no water. He was working on projects that helped feed the world — she was beyond proud of her son.
When David was born twenty years ago, being a single parent was not the stigma it once was, but it wasn’t easy either. She had become pregnant on one of her fieldwork trips by a man she didn’t love. Even though the early 2010’s culture in America were ridiculously puritanical, she had been able to give David a good life. She raised her son with an open mind and his arrival had helped her evolve beyond certain mental blocks that were formed in her own childhood. Her work thrived after his birth. She repressed the memory of how she had nearly aborted her son. Only to end up almost losing him at 30 weeks.
“Good morning Dr. Lowery,” said Maribel, her favorite student and her son’s new girlfriend.
“Good morning, Maribel,” the professor smiled and watched the girl take her seat. Maribel started off as pre-med, one of the most promising young minds to study medicine at the university in the wake of the new discoveries that had ended the superbug pandemic in 2025. But after one semester in an elective with Dr. Lowery, Maribel had switched majors to medical anthropology, hoping to express her other main passion, women’s rights, through her work. “You’re early, as usual. Class doesn’t start for fifteen minutes. How is your research about the artificial womb coming along?” The class was conducting research on different medical technologies and how they impacted cultural development.
“I’m finding that the artificial womb can be used as a tool of social control. It’s an example of the many ways science says that women’s bodies are ineffective, inadequate and inherently dangerous. Because they cannot be controlled. A pregnant woman might have a glass of wine or refuse to have prenatal care. She might do drugs, or even worse, refuse the drugs her doctor says to take. A woman is capable of autonomy, and the medical establishment won’t allow that. It’s 2032 and the social structures built to oppress women — school, workplace and the household — have had the glass ceilings smashed. Because social institutions to control women have failed, this technology has become the tool by which the powers that be can maintain control. An artificial womb is the ultimate artifact of a society that is constantly undermining women’s power.” No wonder this girl was always such a teacher’s pet.
“You reminded me that I wanted to share with you something I read a long time ago, back in graduate school. Let me see if I can pull it up.” Dr. Lowery turned to her smart phone screen to access two decades of notes and references she had stored. “You might have heard of her…. Margaret Mead?” the professor smiled at her student, knowing this smart girl had of course read all the classic anthropology texts. She was the perfect mate for her brilliant son. “Here it is, Maribel. Margaret Mead wrote this about the future of the family in 1943 if you can believe it.” She stared at the screen, the glow casting a glare on her glasses, so Maribel could no longer see her eyes. With a few motions, Dr. Lowery was able to generate a hologram figure of Margaret Mead speaking as if a symposium presenter:
‘…the advantages of a rising population should fall in favor of the advantages of developing fewer people into better persons, and at that point it will no longer be necessary to reward marriage and child bearing. Possibly at the same time, inventions which control the sex of conceptions, medical inventions which can preserve a larger number of babies born and minimize the greater risks to the male sex, the abolition of war and reduction in the size of families, may level out the birthrate so that great discrepancies in the sex ratio will no longer occur. Meanwhile stabilizing the role of the unmarried woman is one necessary precaution for protecting the family from the instabilities which come from greater individual complexity and resultant failure of husbands and wives to stay in step.’”
Dr. Lowery looked up and Maribel saw her warm eyes once more. The straight-A student was ready to respond to the text.
Maribel cleared her throat and spoke. She wasn’t sure if she had this right. “It means that gaining control over reproduction — which at that time, the concept of medical birth control was fairly new — would allow society to invest in the full development of individual persons instead of enforcing constant population growth, is that right? We aren’t baby machines, in other words. Feminism at its finest.”
“Yes, and keep in mind that she was writing during the great World Wars, when young men were ritualistically killed off in battle. Today’s armies are completely automated and there are few casualties. Our wars have evolved, which means there is less pressure to produce males in any given population, as a form of self-defense.” Dr. Lowery said. “However, we were really wiped out for a while there with the antibiotic crisis. It’s kind of a similar situation.”
Dr. Lowery continued, “Yes. But she also says that modern societies produce complex people who can take on many personality traits and different ideas over the course of a lifetime. Mead was noticing that monogamy is at odds with the modern idea of fulfilling human potential, which involves personal transformation over time. Basically, she predicted the divorce epidemic of the 1970’s and 1980’s, wouldn’t you say?” Maribel nodded in response as Dr. Lowery changed the media and the hologram continued the lecture:
‘However, there will still be a further invention to make somehow to adjust the difference in temperament, in inherited constitution, between parents and children. It may be, although it seems hardly likely at present, that constitution may be found to be inherited in some reckonable way, so that at least the potentialities of one’s children’s inheritance can be calculated as can be the chances for fraternal twins or color blindness, now.’
“I think she foresaw the disintegration of the nuclear family AND the arrival of the artificial womb technology. What do you make of it?” Dr. Lowery asked the girl.
Maribel was blown away. “Totally. From what I’ve read recently, the newer artificial wombs will have ways to give complete control to the parents. Things like gender and eye color are nothing — there are now options to choose temperament by selecting the kids’ Meyers-Briggs type. And you have to ask….is this your child or your baby doll? Or future business partner, or what are people trying to create here? Don’t even get me started on the cloning implementations. Cloning wombs are many years off but there’s one guy already who wants to clone Kurt Cobain without the mental depression gene. So he can jam with his favorite rock star.” Maribel would become downright indignant when she got on the topic of the artificial womb.
“But the life-saving ability is what we need to focus on. Yes, Margaret Mead lived in a different world where war was a real threat to the ability of a society to maintain its population. She also personally experienced motherhood in a much more primitive time. In her day, it was considered pretty fine for women to use tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy. And the effects weren’t good.” Dr. Lowery could remember her own grandmother, who had her children in the 1950’s, simply winked and told her don’t drink too much when she was pregnant with David. As far as marriage advice, she never heard grandmother’s wisdom about it, but judging from her grandparents’ long and unhappy marriage, Margaret Mead was right about time ravaging the personal dynamics between couples.
Maribel was thinking about what it must have been like when soldiers killed enemies on a battlefield. How brutal. More brutal as the years with no antibiotics. Maribel grew up fearful of a scraped knee turning infected…they all did. For a few years survival itself was a bit tenuous. Most people were ok, and the new medicines arrived just in time. “I remember growing up my mother would say we were never safer than when we were in the womb. She would say it was the only time she could keep us completely safe. That wasn’t actually true, but it was a nice idea. I guess that’s one thing, symbolically, that people like about the artificial womb. Safety.”
Dr. Lowery looked away from her student remembered her own pregnancy. Safe? Hardly. David was an unexpected pregnancy and she didn’t even realize she was pregnant until the end of the first trimester. By the time she accepted reality, was too late to abort in her state of residence. So, she decided to keep the baby rather than seek more complex plans. But soon enough, her own body became inhospitable to the developing fetus. Differing blood types created complications that put her on bedrest and almost resulted in a miscarriage at 30 weeks. “Maribel, David was born thanks to some very early uses of artificial womb technology. He was able to continue development outside of my body in a special preemie clinic that was housed here at the university. I was terrified it wouldn’t work, but it did.” It was something she’d spoken up about in prior semesters but not in any of the classes where Maribel was a student. She didn’t know if David had told his girlfriend of the somewhat experimental way he had come into the world. From the look on Maribel’s face, she thought not.
“I can’t believe it, he never said anything! He knows I’ve been working on the project, and how involved I became in the protests. I wonder why he didn’t bring it up? Does he know?” Maribel was replaying in her mind all the different times they’d discussed it and he never said a word.
“Yes, David knows. He was part of a special group of at-risk babies who were given support to survive outside the womb. The babies gained strong immune systems from the treatments, and it meant that during the antibiotic crisis he was extremely robust. He was able to survive many childhood illnesses with zero medical intervention. As you know, there was little available at times. But David is considered special, the whole group of them were essentially test subjects, and they have provided a lot of study information that is now being used to build up human immunity so that we won’t face another crisis like we did with the superbugs.” Dr. Lowery wasn’t sure if she should add the next part, but she did. “It means any biological children of David’s would also have the advantage of a superior immune system.”
Maribel was silent. She had thought about asking David to marry her, which was crazy, but she also wanted to have kids the old-fashioned way. It was risky, though, with her genetic background including her mother’s weak immune system. But knowing this about David made her feel he was even more perfect for her. “What other superhuman traits does your son have that I should know about?” She asked, trying to still seem skeptical.
“Well,” Dr. Lowery answered, “I consider him 100% natural, but I see how some people might not. He was conceived normally, so he IS just a regular human. The artificial wombs that have since developed can produce people with above average bodies and minds, though, and which is why I understand your position about it. And it’s also why I hesitate to apply Margaret Mead’s words to this topic because I think that modern technology is far beyond anything she could have imagined. This is in the realm of science-fiction, and even though Margaret Mead was one of the very first futurists on earth, I doubt she meant to write science-fiction.”
“Yes, but….” the expression on Dr. Lowery’s face made her stop talking. She realized someone had walked into the room. David was there.
References:
World Health Organization (2016). The end of antibiotics? Retrieved From http://www.who.int/antimicrobial-resistance/events/end-of-antibiotics-meeting-sept2016/en/
Beeman, W. (Ed.). (2005). Margaret Mead: The Study of Contemporary Western Cultures (Vol. 6). New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
Author’s Note
As a futurist I am interested in universal human experiences and what they will be like for future generations. Childbirth and pregnancy appeal to me because they touch upon different aspects of humanity — love, sex, gender, survival, genetics, home and family, and so much more. The story concludes on a very open-ended note that could leave some readers feeling unsatisfied. But I wanted to write a story to ask questions rather than provide answers. The artificial womb is a technology about what it means to be human and I hope the story gives the audience a lot to think about. I look forward to the conversation.
Designer’s Note
I’m so eager for you to read this story! At the core is a very personal conflict, a character on the precipice of questioning her given world-view and coming to terms with realities that challenge it. We want to inspire discussion about reproductive technologies, CRISPR, artificial wombs, and the like — so we can consciously decide the future we want to co-create.
Working with Alexandra was a joy — and I am so happy to have been a part of this process and to be a part of getting her unique vision out there. Although everyone should be in on this discussion, it is essential that prominent voices come from those most effected by this new future. In our hyper gender-roled society, reproductive advancements will impact women the greatest. So the most important task for me was to ask questions and be open — which of course, is the most fun part of the process anyway!
So exactly how did we tackle the conceptual design for this bold world?
I’m going to get deep with an analogy for a moment. In the run-up to this project I have been thinking a lot about the creative process. At what point is our work original or artificial? What makes it special or gives it a “soul”? Does it have to be traditional to be valued? There have been debates about exclusion in the artist community (Google “Inktober contraversy” for a good example) and I have personally questioned the work of artists who use algorithms or programs to iterate. What is the future of the creative industry if more and more of the output is reliant on artificial means? When concept artists run a program that randomly generate 3D models given seed data or parameters, is this work still belong wholly to the artist? Or is it the machine we should revere?
In the end, I came to a tentative conclusion. Human history has been about evolving with our environment, not in a vacuum. We create tools and they empower us and expand our capabilities. If an artist suffers from a neurological condition that prevents them from being able to hold a traditional brush steady, they can “ink” on a computer instead. And when Scott Robertson decides the seeds of an algorithm, chooses the colors and the process — it is it not the same as the first artists who chose which berries to crush for pigment? Who learned to control the way the bristles hit the page?
Basically, if we are to create a better future we must have some humility about it. We create with the universe, we don’t stand a part from it. In fact, that thought is perhaps the most artificial.
Recap: Are artificial wombs like artificial creative tools? Definitely maybe.
So let’s get to the good stuff. When Alexandra and I iterated on the story concept I immediately envisioned a world defined by the aesthetic of a womb. Soft, circular, luminescent translucency — and early on she mentioned she wanted the device to be called “Lotus.” Perfect! The Lotus is the highest symbol of fertility in the Hindu culture — divine purity, spiritual awakening, and the soul. And the implications of the human soul and value inherent in artificially incubated humans are a strong thread in this piece.
The initial concepts focused on the artificial womb itself — the Lotus began it’s life as an egg, layered with a selectively permeable sheath and tethered in various ways to sources of nutrition and filtering mechanisms. Unfolding as the fetus went through the various stages in the process of “birth.”
Mechanically, we took inspiration from the real-world NICU incubators and the artificial womb’s designed for lamb fetuses. Of course, our design had to also look nice in a futuristic living space — as this technology progresses, we saw it reforming the way we connect with our growing children. A prominent and beautiful artifact to display in the home.
In the end, the egg shape and more complicated mechanisms molted away as the design refined itself to reinforce the idea of artificiality and perfection. The fundamental shape design language of benevolence, safety, and softness is the circle. The Lotus became a perfect sphere with elegant tethers — delicate but strong.
The colors reflected the pastels so often associated with infancy — drawing upon the hue of the Lotus.
To extend the theme — the artificial womb’s design was reflected in the world itself. In some ways, modern University culture extends adolescence already, and anyone who knows a “golden spoon” kid can see what happens when a child never truly has to go on their journey into adulthood, but we wanted to show how this world pushes that to the extreme.
Men and women never grow up- they travel around in encapsulated autonomous wombs, go to work in concentric and enveloping studio spaces, and automation pumps their nutrients, entertainment, and other necessities in and out without thought.
Are we okay with a world like this? Would it stall our progress or would it prop us up to explore deeper?
We need to have these conversations now. They are hard topics, topics that tug at our fundamental beliefs and our judgement of the world as it should be. The future of genetics, and themes explored in this story, will play out either consciously or unconsciously. It is up to us to reflect and decide — or neglect and face the consequences, good or bad.
If you found this story interesting and would like to discuss how we can explore the future together, let us know!
