"Could see armies being built this way": Artificial womb Ectolife explained as netizens stunned by eerie facility

A video for Ectolife, a conceptual 'artificial womb facility' developed by Berlin-based Hashem Al-Ghaili, has been making the rounds on social media. According to Al-Ghaili, a filmmaker and biotechnologist, Ectolife aims to create a "safe and pain-free alternative" to having babies in the future.

The nine-minute-long video illustrates how the artificial facility works and can provide parents with an option to produce a customized baby. Dubbing it an "elite package," it gives parents a choice of intelligence, height, strength, hair color, eye color, etc., and even an option to avoid genetic diseases. Describing its benefits, the voiceover in the video states,

"Ectolife allows infertile couples to conceive a baby and become the true parents of their own offspring. It is a perfect solution for women who had their uterus surgically removed due to cancer or other complications."

The video was shared on YouTube by Al-Ghaili on his profile on December 9, 2022.

Needless to say, internet users were shocked to see the video. They immediately took to social media to react to the clip, expressing their apprehension and fear. Here is a tweet by Brady, @BKAresnal14, which describes a possible dystopian future:

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"The Matrix is here," netizens mostly concerned and suspicious of Ectolife's artificial Womb Facility

Twitterati were left worried after the video made its rounds on the micro-blogging platform. Many called it "nefarious" or "frightening," with the "potential to accelerate doomsday."

Others compared the technology to the ones seen in dystopian movies and books like Brave New World. A few, suspicious of its potential misuse, claimed it could be used to "Build your own slave kit, perhaps?"

Here are a few comments seen on Twitter addressing their concerns:

A handful out there saw merit in the concept of artificial wombs, especially for those who "cannot have their own children." Here are a few comments seen online:

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What is the Ectolife Artificial Womb Facility?

The video boasts five decades of "ground-breaking scientific research" carried out across the world to alleviate a declining population in countries like Japan, Bulgaria, and South Korea.

The facility would run on renewable energy and house about 75 labs, each equipped with up to 400 "growth pods." These pods would be designed to replicate the inside of a real womb with the addition of sensors and scanners that allow monitoring of the baby's development and alert the scientist of any genetic abnormalities. This data would be made accessible to the parents on their phones.

Ectolife Artificial Womb concept (Image via Ectolife)

Describing the vision of "genetically engineering" any desired "trait" of the child, the video stated,

"You can edit any trait of your baby through a wide range of over 300 genes..."

In a conversation with Mirror.co.uk, Hashem Al-Ghaili clarified that this is just a concept and that any research on human embryos is not allowed beyond 14 days due to ethical concerns.

Experts like Andrew Shennan, a professor at King's College, London, spoke to HuffPost about the technology not being that radical with the possibility of it becoming a reality in the near future.