[RecycledEle]

You are correct. Those of us with moral values avoid this kind of work. Only the sociopaths do this kind of work. They only care about gaining power.

Maybe genetically modified pig organs will eliminate the supply shortfall in organs and get rid of the power trip these jokers enjoy so much.

[orbz]

This feels unfair to say.

People with moral values don’t and shouldn’t avoid this kind of work to make sure that they care about accuracy, edge cases, that they continuously refine how they define utility and try to view it from a place of empathy.

Doctors and first responders make these calls often when they perform mass casualty triage, or when to declare someone’s death to enable collection of life saving organs.

[drewcoo]

Doctors and first responders aren't faceless people in cubes making secret proprietary software for companies seeking to profit from the automated decisions.

[Suzuran]

The "supply shortfall" is due to the requirement that the DNA of the organ has to match up with the DNA of the recipient in order for the organ to function and the fact that the organ has a very short "shelf life" when outside of the donor's body. You can't just randomly stuff organs into people and expect a good outcome, and you can't just stockpile them.

Until we can customize the DNA in the organ for the intended recipient and manufacture them on demand with a short lead time, we are going to have some kind of lack of availability issue. Our issues are not a bunch of power-tripping sociopaths sitting on a hoard of organs deciding who lives or dies, they are trying to rapidly identify who is physically close enough and who genetically matches in the hours you have when an organ becomes available, and is there any opportunity for a cascade donation to be brought into the mix (is this organ compatible with someone who has a willing but incompatible donor who is compatible with someone else, and does that person have a willing but incompatible donor, and so on down the line)

(Edit: I have been informed that the paywalled article, which I cannot read, is about a UK system; I am only familiar with the kidney system in the US. This post probably does not reflect UK practice)

[dado3212]

Or an alternative framing: using data can help to remove human biases and increase overall lifespans (which the studies have shown). How is it sociopathic to work on software that demonstrably saves lives?