Five charged after fanboi sells kidney for iPad and iPhone Five people have been charged in southern China with illegal use of a kidney after a teenage fanboi in the country sold one of his organs to buy a shiny new iPhone and iPad. Xinhua news agency reported that the five include Song Zhongyu, a surgeon from a provincial hospital in Yunnan province, Su Kaizong, who works in a …
It's a kidney... they are one of the only redundant things in your body, if you're gonna sell a part it's a pretty obvious one to get rid of with no long term ill effects unless you get a problem with the remaining kidney, in which case, hope you've earnt enough to buy someone elses spare by then.
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"It's a kidney... they are one of the only redundant things in your body, if you're gonna sell a part it's a pretty obvious one to get rid of with no long term ill effects unless you get a problem with the remaining kidney"
You contradict yourself. If you kidneys are redundant organs, there would be no market for selling them let alone a reason to be waiting one on the transplant list. Also, you could sell one and get the other taken out, appendix style, if it developed problems later... Being redundant you wouldn't need it anyway. Then you also wouldn't need to buy someone elses, you'd just have no kidneys with no long term effects whatsoever. In fact, you would just sell them both at first anyway.
Kidneys != Redundant. If it did, nobody would ever need dialysis machines.
I can't believe that the average Chinese person is any dumber than the average Brit, so why are they doing it? Is it because in China those at the bottom of the heap are so desperate to move up that they are willing to put their own lives in danger to obtain the symbols of wealth and success?
Fuck me that's awful, if true.
I think it was the doctor who had the gambling debt.
The teenager just wanted an iPad and has no idea of the consequences - like most teenagers.
- When I was that age I built a zipline down a ravine with a couple of friends, and one of us swept through a holly bush when the brakeline snapped. So we tied the brakeline back together, tightened the zipline and had another few goes!
What sort of moron does this for real, this is the stuff of urban legend and pub humour.... Apple is a very desirable product but this is just idiocy.
And to forestall any comments, this isn't Apples fault, they sell the dream and their products cost an arm and a leg, but this is too creepy.
"The illegal trade in organs is big business in China, where demand way outstrips supply. "
Not a situation unique to China.
Also, considering that China has the largest population in the world, it is only to be expected that, in absolute numbers, they will also have the largest number of stupid people, and consequently, stupid stories about stupid people.
Quite. When travelling in India there were a number of people on the streets begging who I noticed were missing various limbs. I was told by a local that it was common for people to pay to remove limbs in order to generate more sympathy and increase their income via begging. The prominence of the missing limbs went some way to validate this claim.
Obviously, not every person dying in China will leave a harvest of usable organs (disease will get some, physically violent deaths will get others), so demand will probably always be ahead of supply, but "way outstripping"? Is there some cultural twitch over there that has people not donating organs?
Yes. You have put your finger on it. I am told that many people believe that unless their bodies are buried entire, they will not be re-incarnated. In that they have not dissimilar views to those of certain Christian sects, though they believe they are putting their resurrection at risk.
I'm always puzzled when people come out with this sort of thing. What exactly has Jessica Alba got that thousands of other women don't have?
Note: I must confess to not knowing anything about this woman other than she is some sort of celebrity. I dont even know what she looks like but two things I am sure of. I'm not even the slightest bit tempted to look her up on google to find out and secondly there's probably more attractive, in all it's senses, females right here in the office.
" I'm always puzzled when people come out with this sort of thing. What exactly has Jessica Alba got that thousands of other women don't have?"
Nothing. He was probably just naming an attractive woman that a large umber of readers would recognise to illustrate the humourously intended point that bagging a gorgeous, but out of reach woman should be a higher priority to a teenage boy than getting a couple of shiny new toys. That if you're going to put your life at risk, there are better things to aim for as a reward.
Personally, I'd rather keep my organs - I'm rather attached to them. Badumtish!
Now that the said donor has one less kidney, renal failure, a a little bit cash( not including the new medical fees), it would be ineresting to hear how important he feels that an Ipad/Iphone really is.
The sad part is that this is what "marketing" is really all about, drumming up a frenzy of "wanton desire" for a product that has no intrisic value. It really is pretty damned sad that the human being can be reduced to such a level.....
You could easilly replace ipad/iphone by any product that teenagers want or that is seen as the "HipThang".
Quite. Like the London riots... All these impoverished (financially, educationally, socially, possibly intellectually) people were stealing products they only wanted because a lot of effort had been put into creating that desire. Nike et al engineering a situation so as that they can relieve a less-than-well-off person of £100 for a pair of trainers....
However, it seems there are plenty of rich people in China who can afford shiny toys and aiming marketing at them is fine... it's just that poor people will want to emulate them. Besides, Apples marketing department (the press and rumour mill) is not under their control.
It's episode 6 of the first series - 4oD isn't available in Jormany - where an unscrupulous surgeon performs needless surgery on hapless patients including harvesting their organs for sale. David Lander was an excellent precursor to Chris Morris' Brass Eye satire of the documentary though there is a kind of innocence from the age before nowtrage.
I'd like to say "life following art" but find the whole idea extremely disturbing: organ harvesting does unfortunately.go on.
Probably wouldn't sell one of my kidneys for £2,000, £10,000 and we're probably getting down to business, saves a life and gives me some spending money. Where's the problem?
Unless something goes wrong with my remaining kidney, but then my bodies full of so many non-redundant parts I envy the average duel processor, duel power servers. Also the mere mind boggling array of ways I could die makes worrying about increasing one factor silly. I'd still be far more concerned with getting hit by a vehicle in some unfortunate situation, or a house fire, or a gas explosion, or slipping down the stairs...
The kidney is about the only thing I'd sell though.
That said, when I was a teenager, I was learning how to run a Bridgeport CNC ... I didn't want to just use the shiny new toy; rather, I wanted to to know how to make the shiny new toy make stuff that I could use in RealLife[tm]. I did. PC boards from scratch was an early one. Pretty bracing for custom motorcycle frames followed soon after. Bultaco dirtbike engine parts soon followed. Then cross-draft heads for L-series Datsun engines. Today, I make one-off titanium plates for vets restructuring the bones of critters hit by cars ... All under computer control. And I control the computer, not vice-versa.
I'll still be using what I learned 40 years ago in 40 years (and still using my Bridgeport, for that matter!). I doubt that anyone using anything iFad-ish has learned anything that they will still be using ten years from now. I can guarantee that iFads won't exist.
Honestly, my mind boggles that folks think the flash[1] & glam is important. We are supposed to control the computer, people ... the computer isn't supposed to control us!
[1] Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
"Honestly, my mind boggles that folks think the flash[1] & glam is important. We are supposed to control the computer, people ... the computer isn't supposed to control us!"
<snore> <snore> Yeah and when I were a lad we...
Guess people also said PCs would never be of use - the reality is in a few years you may be using an iPad to control your CNC.
The iPad is a tablet computer - but I guess if it's not an ageing 8086 running MS-DOS it's too modern for you. The iPad helps you learn - interactive / talking books, all sorts - try looking in many schools and even nurseries now - many have iPads - not because the kids or teachers want something 'glam' but because it's a great tool to help them learn.
"the reality is in a few years you may be using an iPad to control your CNC."
Uh ... no.
"Tools" are not synonymous with "mass media distractions", no mater how hard marketing tries to convince me to the contrary.
You bringing up toddlers being indoctrinated in iFadism only makes me sad.
Everyone has a price - his price was an iPad but if you ask yourself a question - would you accept £1,000, £25,000, £100,000, £250,000, £1,000,000 for a kidney - chances are 99.9% of people are somewhere on that line.
Most people would probably rather think they were nearer the £1M mark but if you needed the money and didn't need the kidney?
[1] Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah we knew - you didn't even have to point it out. Flash, iFad oh I mean iPad <ho ho ho>.
This article is nothing about the iPad 'controlling' anyone - it's about people who wanted the money to buy an iPad more than their kidney or virginity - I'm sure many people have sold more for less.
It's only a kidney or a shag - people will have been killed for less and as far as I can see both were not coerced. Basically the girl had a shag for £500 - probably a lot more than many people get ;) Don't even see why this is being linked to an iPad - if it had been £500 cash it would probably not have even made the news.
The boy sold a kidney for £500 but what's *your* price - £5,000 maybe - £50,000 probably - £500,000 definitely?
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