Online Offspring: Co-parenting the Next Generation

At the age of 36, Florian Joos felt ready to become a father. The problem, however, was that he hadn’t met the right woman. One day, he found himself typing “single parents arranged” into Google, which gave him a practical answer to his dilemma: Modamily. It’s a place for people like him—adults who long to have children and need the help of a co-parent, without the messiness of romance.

In the basement of a suburban two-story house on a quiet road just outside Pittsburgh, six mostly self-taught scientists tinker with an assortment of computer parts and electric equipment. They plan one day on becoming cyborgs — a future that may be closer than you think.