"Organlegging"

[Robert_Moriyama]

In the Helen Mackay stories, the lunar colonies depend on "organ banks" where criminals "donate" skin, tissue, and organs (depending on the severity of the crime) to meet demand for transplants. But check out this NY Times story for what is happening NOW in what passes for the 'real' world.<br><br>THE ORGAN TRADE<br>Tracking the Sale of a Kidney on a Path of Poverty and Hope<br>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/inter ... AZ.html?th

[Robert_Moriyama]

This sounds very similar to the movie Running Man.

Kevin

<br>Actually, there's a much older story by Robert Sheckley called "The Seventh Victim" that had a televised version of something like T.A.G. (The Assassination Game) -- with real assassinations. It was made into a movie called "The Tenth Victim" with (I think) Marcello Mastroianni(sp?) and Ursula Andress, in which Andress wears a bra with guns built into it ... There was also another movie (within the last 3 - 5 years -- can't remember the title) with a similar premise.<br>

[Robert_Moriyama]

Robert Moriyama wrote:

>>THE ORGAN TRADE
Tracking the Sale of a Kidney on a Path of Poverty and Hope
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/inter ... AZ.html?th<<

I clicked on this link, but was unable to access the article (I got only a come on to subscribe). I assume that the article is about homeless people selling their kidneys. They've long been selling their blood for an extra buck or two.

Donald

<br><br>Alas, if you'd checked it out a couple of days ago, you could have read the article for free (it's AFTER 7 days that they want $). I believe you're correct -- the article describes a gray-shading-to-black market whereby the wealthy can pay the desperate for a kidney or other tissue. Do you remember the old Serling series The Night Gallery? There was a story in the pilot where a rich woman buys a living man's eyes -- only to waste them (I think there was a blackout, which led her to tear off her bandages too soon; when the power returned, she overloaded her fragile optic nerves by looking directly at a light fixture).<br><br>

[Robert_Moriyama]

... It also bears some resemblance to the movie "Series 7", if anyone has seen that ...
Anyway, the concept is that five contestants are selected at random from the population, by drawing 5 social security numbers. Each contestant is then paid a visit by the show's host, at which time they receive a gun and a camera crew. Last man standing is the winner.

- Wishbone

<br><br>THAT'S the more recent movie I was thinking of. It's probably out on video or DVD by now ...

[Roy_Gray]

I believe the term 'Organlegger' came from some of Larry Niven's stories.<br><br>TaoPhoenix should check out his short story collections and novels to find the story he was seeking. <br>

[Robert_Moriyama]

I believe the term 'Organlegger' came from some of Larry Niven's stories.

TaoPhoenix should check out his short story collections and novels to find the story he was seeking.

<br><br>Roy, the Helen Mackay stories I refer to at the start of this topic are Helen in Wonderland (in this month's issue), and Helen Damnation (last month or the month before?). In discussions about those stories, I noted that the organ-bank-as-punishment idea had been featured in Larry Niven stories (notably The Jigsaw Man and The Patchwork Girl) after some people said that they liked the concept. I'm not sure that Niven originated the term "organlegging" (the *concept*, of course, is as old as the urban legend about waking up in a bathtub full of ice minus a kidney), but he certainly used it decades ago. (At least nobody is walking around yet with a droud socket in his head -- that we know of ...)