LONG BEACH (CBS SF) –
"Speaking from the prestigious TED Conference in Long Beach Wednesday, Sausalito activist Stewart Brand said scientists are developing the ability to reassemble an extinct animal’s genome, and even recreate the animal itself."
Didn't these morons watch the frickin movie? Oh... they're coming from a good place... really?
“Humans have made a huge hole in nature in the last 10,000 years,” Brand said. “We have the ability now, and maybe the moral obligation, to repair some of the damage.”
An interesting article with some political ramifications. I will explain. Of the animals once living in Continental USA, the Whigs, Federalists, early Republicans and even the splinter groups such as the Hamiltonians did a good job for the needs of the Nation as it then existed.
ReplyDeleteIn the present age, when Politics is the art of throwing money through the sieve created by lobbyists; we have two sets of standards each as bad as the other.
Is it any wonder then that the Tea Party lot has been reinvented, not for the betterment of the nation, but for the chance to demonstrate that extinct monoliths can be brought back to life? We recently had an experiment with a far right wing extremist group; they too prospered for about six years then once again became irrelevant. I have a feeling the Sara Palin’s of the American present will soon become the fossils they imitate.
Cheers from Aussie
Hiya Kingston! Good to see you post :-)
ReplyDeleteWe may have to clone food staples like salmon, cod, bass, etc. Everything's been/being fished out ...
Pflunky
ReplyDeleteMy thanks but I shall only comment on pieces of particular interest. Not sure about your cloning argument. If you clone an animal or a bird, you get an exact copy of the original. Do you really want another Ronald Reagan or a Jimmy Carter?
If however you engage in gene modification, there is the opportunity to remove a gene responsible for whatever you consider bad ,and perhaps enhance a gene which is beneficial. As an example I would cite Canola seed, Here in Australia a company called Monsanto ( American or Canadian I believe) have modified Canola to produce much larger yields; pretty much what you envisage for "Cloning" I guess.
You mention Salmon. Here in Tasmania we have by far the largest salmon cultivation industry in Australia. The practice has been very satisfactory and is quite profitable. A draw back is that the salmon are prone to a range of diseases, not harmful in themselves generally but which inhibit the fast growing characteristics desirable in intensive farming. Treatment is usually with antibiotics and this is far from desirable. There is a lot of work being done with genetic modification in an attempt to "breed out" the susceptibility to these diseases, particularly one particular problem affecting the gills.
Cheers from Aussie