Bodyoids and Speculative Bioethics: A Response to Erler

Alexandre Erler’s commentary challenges our argument against creating human ‘bodyoids’. While he considers our concerns speculative, we briefly defend speculative bioethics as vital for anticipating ethical risks before technologies emerge. We maintain that historical practices such as organ procurement and embryo experimentation illustrate how instrumental uses of human bodies can erode moral boundaries. Erler’s confidence in safeguards like the dead donor rule is, we suggest, misplaced. Ethical reflection at this formative stage is essential to prevent the normalization of technologies that risk profound dehumanization.