Are Organs Alive? – Isabel Rosas

I believe that organs are not alive, because being ‘alive’ to me means that you have thoughts, feelings, instincts, you can move, and you can survive on your own. Obviously, our organs help us stay alive, they provide us with the ability to breathe, digest food, transport blood, etc., but organs individually cannot survive on their own. They also do not have feelings or thoughts, they just do their job because our brain directs them to. Our organs work together to create a living being, but individually, they are not alive.
I do think that eventually, organs grown in a lab will be exact replicas of organs that are grown in the womb, but organoids, as mentioned in the Ted Talk, are not the same and they are not ‘as alive’ as the organs inside our body. Organoids are less complex and they do not have the ability to provide the same functions as an organ. They are a good start though. In the video, he mentioned that scientists can use organoids to test treatments, perform surgical procedures, and much more.
Bacteria I would consider to be part of me as a living organism. Bacteria alone is alive, it can survive on its own and bacteria is basically what created every species in the world. Bacteria has the ability to evolve, and it performs functions as well.
In my opinion, even though cells in our body are replaced, it does not mean that we are living in a whole new body. If we were, wouldn’t we be immortal? Our organs would just become brand new and they would last forever. Unfortunately, that is not the case. When our cells renew, our organs still age and eventually fail. Therefore, we are not living in a different body every time our cells are replaced.