Because we can

[theletch1]

I'm a huge fan of the Science channel and Discovery channel. Lately, I've seen several commercials for upcoming shows discussing the finding of DNA from long extinct animals. Wooly mammoths, dinosaurs and so on. Inevitably, the idea of cloning these creatures comes up. There was a commercial on as I started typing this thread about a show called "Humanzee" regarding the genetic blending of human and chimp DNA to create a hybrid. My question to all of you is: Should we do something just because we can or are there things that are conceivably possible that simply shouldn't be done?

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I'm a huge fan of the Science channel and Discovery channel. Lately, I've seen several commercials for upcoming shows discussing the finding of DNA from long extinct animals. Wooly mammoths, dinosaurs and so on. Inevitably, the idea of cloning these creatures comes up. There was a commercial on as I started typing this thread about a show called "Humanzee" regarding the genetic blending of human and chimp DNA to create a hybrid. My question to all of you is: Should we do something just because we can or are there things that are conceivably possible that simply shouldn't be done?

Short answer: **** ye not with Nature, the backlash will be huge.

But humans are far too arrogant to heed that advice, so the cautionary tales of doctors Frankenstein and Moreau will continue to inch closer to reality. Who's for pizza?

 

[Empty Hands]

Should we do something just because we can or are there things that are conceivably possible that simply shouldn't be done?

Well, I'm pretty easy to please on these things. If the potential benefits outweigh the potential costs, then it should be done. If not, then not.

You also have to weight your expected outcomes by probability. Human cloning may lead to armies of clone troopers assaulting our galactic republic...but it isn't likely.

 

[Cryozombie]

Yeah we need to clone a couple dozen T-rex and turn em loose in various cities around the U.S.

Cuz, we all know we need somthing to knock us off the top of the food chain running around. Or Maybe we can just make great white sharks with feet.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Unfortunately some place, some where there will be serious experiements going on in this avenue. We are not to far off from possibly replacing ourselves. :erg:

 

[stone_dragone]

While I am a personally against abortion but am a proponent of Stem-cell research (from already aborted fetuses), I understand a slippery slope argument exists regarding the "cans" not equaling the "shoulds."

My religious beliefs are such that I think that we have the ability to do almost anything, for a price. If you eat the apple, you pay by getting thrown out of
the garden. If you take the credit for something God did, you don't go into the promised land.

I believe (mine being shared, not being fed to anyone) that although we may have the knowledge and ability to do some great things, there will be a price down the road...what it will be I can't say - but the dethroning of the Republic could be an issue.

 

[grydth]

Science fiction becomes real life - or death .... and the real Jurassic Park when it comes will likely prove that the horrors of real life are far worse than what fiction writers can conjur up. My guess is that we won't wind up being eaten by rampaging recreated Allosaurus, but by doctored microbes on the other end of the life scale. War of the Worlds, indeed..... and who even needs Martians? Perhaps Captain Trips or the Hoeneckers will issue a final press release...

I dubbed this, " Twitching Brain Syndrome" - the irresistable urge to jerk with something that's fine just as it is. One sees idot savants in all walks of life engaging in it, too frequently with (needlessly) disastrous consequences.

 

[jks9199]

There's a real simple way to answer the question.

I carry a gun almost anytime I'm out of the house. I CAN shoot anyone that irritates me. Should I?

I can walk into the courthouse, go into the court room where the judge that decided that I'd proven my case -- but the defendant's good driving record should let the charge get dismissed (um... if that happens everytime, they'll ALWAYS have a good record, even if they get stopped every week), call him various names that won't pass the filter, and moon him. That doesn't mean I should.

There are lots of things we can do. Almost an infinity of them. But we shouldn't do quite a few of them. I'm not hunting through posts to find it, but someone's got a signature that reads something like "Don't do what you can't undo, until you consider what you can't do after you've done it."

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Science fiction becomes real life - or death .... and the real Jurassic Park when it comes will likely prove that the horrors of real life are far worse than what fiction writers can conjur up. My guess is that we won't wind up being eaten by rampaging recreated Allosaurus, but by doctored microbes on the other end of the life scale. War of the Worlds, indeed..... and who even needs Martians? Perhaps Captain Trips or the Hoeneckers will issue a final press release...

I dubbed this, " Twitching Brain Syndrome" - the irresistable urge to jerk with something that's fine just as it is. One sees idot savants in all walks of life engaging in it, too frequently with (needlessly) disastrous consequences.

Do you one better:

Someone in germ warfare research creates a compound that is stolen and falls into the hands of some terrorist cell, is exploded in a "dirty bomb" in a major city or two, and among the ill effects are an increase in aggression and decrease in higher brain function and voila--all those "Zombie Apocalypse" scenarios we like to joke about aren't so very funny anymore.

It would be funny if the potential were NOT actually there.

 

[Cryozombie]

Do you one better:

Someone in germ warfare research creates a compound that is stolen and falls into the hands of some terrorist cell, is exploded in a "dirty bomb" in a major city or two, and among the ill effects are an increase in aggression and decrease in higher brain function and voila--all those "Zombie Apocalypse" scenarios we like to joke about aren't so very funny anymore.

It would be funny if the potential were NOT actually there.

The Zombie apocalypse isnt a joke... its gonna happen.

 

[FearlessFreep]

The Zombie apocalypse isnt a joke... its gonna happen.

And that's exactly why I study Martial Arts

 

[Steel Tiger]

Should we do something just because we can or are there things that are conceivably possible that simply shouldn't be done?

I'm a big fan of modern genetic research and some of its implications. Preserving a species that is on the bring with genetics is not so bad, but bringing one back from extinction? Such a thing brings with it many considerations. If an elephant requires around 50kgs of vegetable material a day to live, how much would a Diplodocus require? If a lion requires 10 kgs of meat a day, how much for a T-Rex? There are factors beyond merely determining whether or not it can be done. Its not so much a matter of should it be done but will the end product survive, or will we need to build zoos to contain all the extinct animals and freaky creatures that cannot survive on their own.

I have to ask, why on Earth would you want to produce a Human/Chimp hybrid? Well, I have to figure the reason it was suggested is because it might be easy. But what's the point? To produce hairy, ugly humans? So that some weird freak can have viable reproductive sex with a Chimpanzee? so we can populate the world with people who can hold things with their feet?

As Andy and Grydth pointed out if you mess with nature you get something you don't expect. We're only human so we cannot conceive of all the variables that need to be accounted for, or all the effects that might arise from the addition of something new.

 

[Cryozombie]

I have to ask, why on Earth would you want to produce a Human/Chimp hybrid? Well, I have to figure the reason it was suggested is because it might be easy. But what's the point? To produce hairy, ugly humans? So that some weird freak can have viable reproductive sex with a Chimpanzee? so we can populate the world with people who can hold things with their feet?.

Short answer? So scientists can say "See we must have evolved from apes, there is no god"

 

[Sukerkin]

The last phrase of Cryo's post I'm more or less sure I agree with but there's a reason why some things are termed a 'force of nature'.

It may not be intelligent and it may be wasteful (rather than some perfectly balanced Gaia mechanism) but there are rules that govern the essential chemistry and biology of life. Because they exist we, as the currently most intelligent (we think ) creatures around can figure them out. But those rules constitute dynamicly counterbalanced chaos and if you tweak something into existence that otherwise would not 'be' only that non-existent (I believe) god knows what the outcome will be.

Life forms matrices as an aspect of it's existence, you only have to see the outcome of the so-called 'safe' genetic modification of plants to realise that .

Make a human-chimp hybrid and we'll end up with Charlton Heston on a beach next to a half-buried Statue of Liberty, mark my words .

 

[Steel Tiger]

I agree, there are aspects that can simply be overlooked when science pursues the 'because we can' line. Mention of GM plants brought to mind the problems we are having here with GM canola. What was forgotten in the rush to produce it and grow it was how the seeds are spread, by the wind. The end result is contamination of crops of farmers who do not want to grow GM canola. It just wasn't considered by the geneticists (and I wouldn't expect them to consider it, they were just producing a hardier variety of canola), but the people who were planting and growing it should have realised.


We need to be careful. The last thing anyone wants to see is Charlton Heston on the beach in a loincloth!

 

[CoryKS]

I just wanna take my son to the zoo to see the reptiles with the big teeth. Is that so wrong?

 

[Ray]

I be happy just for the return of the honeybee in North America.

 

[shujika]

I too am a BIG fan/supporter of medical/genetic reasearch. Other than the "deadly" virus sceanero, I don't believe we have too much to fear (from the reasearch).
P.S. The Human/chimp clone has been disscussed for YEARS,...(for spare parts, as oppossed to having your own human clone for parts)