Factory-produced organisms

Here's Philon on factory-produced organisms:

The biotechnical ability to design novel organisms may well replace the *reproduction* of organisms with their *origination*, at least, to a considerable extent

I too think that many future organisms will be produced in factories. Indeed today, many types of electronic equipment are already being manufactured in factories.

However, I would point out that factory-produced organisms are not exactly new. Termites are essentially produced in factories. A termite worker isn't made by another termite worker reproducing itself - it is created in an enormous termite manufacturing facility on a kind of assembly line.

It seems fairly clear that evolution is in the process of transitioning to more factory-produced organisms. The model where organisms create their descendants directly via splitting or eggs only makes sense in a limited number of contexts.

As well as more factories I believe we will also see more hospitals. Large organisms often need repair - there should be dedicated facilities for doing that.