The most dangerous thing would be introducing a bacteria cell into an environment that isn't prepared for it, and having that cell multiply at an uncontrolled rate. Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Bart brings his frog to Australia? That kind of thing could happen when people get ideas like 'let's engineer a bacteria that can break down plastics and oils", and then the bacteria makes its way into the wild or gets flushed into the ocean.
The most dangerous thing would be introducing a bacteria cell into an environment that isn't prepared for it, and having that cell multiply at an uncontrolled rate. Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Bart brings his frog to Australia? That kind of thing could happen when people get ideas like 'let's engineer a bacteria that can break down plastics and oils", and then the bacteria makes its way into the wild or gets flushed into the ocean.
Another example is how kudzu went wild in the Deep South.
Somebody brought kudzu seeds over from Japan, next thing you know the kudzu's strangling the existing plants by growing over it.
is there any work of science fiction where playing God turns out to be pretty okay?
I'll write one when I'm done with my current story. That sounds like fun.
maybe I should also write something
start a trend
I agree
Only I may write.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
It's really important to stress though that we're still a long ways off of even engineering things like stem cells or bacteria for any particular purpose.
The best we're able to do is analyze the aspects of a very simple DNA structure that already exists, replicate it on our own, and then take that engineered DNA structure and have it self-replicate inside of a another very simple cell.
It's really important to stress though that we're still a long ways off of even engineering things like stem cells or bacteria for any particular purpose.
The best we're able to do is analyze the aspects of a very simple DNA structure that already exists, replicate it on our own, and then take that engineered DNA structure and have it self-replicate inside of a another very simple cell.
Is there a way to make this sound mundane in anyway
Basically, the phrase "playing God" is really stupid and only used to demonize something without addressing the actual issue!
this is essentially why I avoided using the term in my original post
it's nebulous at best and stupid at worst
I just wonder, if we get to the point where we can genetically modify humans, where's that line, the line between making it so you never get cancer, and making it so you look exactly the way your parents want you to, finding the genetic markers for homosexuality and overwriting them, etc
would it destroy individuality? is that bad? who ate my schnitzel?
Pretty much all of human culture is dictated by our adaptability. The common anchors in culture are based around things that we can't fully adapt to our own purposes - we all have basic biological processes, we all need to sleep, eat, shit and have sex to reproduce. We're all born, we grow up and we all eventually die.
In the far, far science-fiction future where we're able to control even some of those processes, our culture and society will inevitably change as this technology is developed and adapted. Potentially we could become a race that doesn't need to build cities or roads or change our environment to suit the limitations of our selves, but instead change ourselves to completely adapt to our environment. You wouldn't recognize those humans or their culture, because they wouldn't really be humans anymore.
More likely we'll just use it grow ourselves giant dongers though.
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There is a sci-fi movie that has this exact plot
hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
http://www.cracked.com/article_18503_how-biotech-company-almost-killed-world-with-booze.html
summing that up, a biotech company nearly released a genetically engineered microbe that would have killed all plant life
cane toads into Australia
pretty much every animal ever brought to Australia
wait are you like
am i reading this right
you don't think organ transplants are okay
Nature finds a way.
...like...tears...in the rain...
Only I may write.
The best we're able to do is analyze the aspects of a very simple DNA structure that already exists, replicate it on our own, and then take that engineered DNA structure and have it self-replicate inside of a another very simple cell.
good one
Yeah, that was part of the plot in Jurassic Park (the book, not the movie).
The scientists who created the dinosaurs made it so that they'd die if they didn't get a lysine supplement with their meals.
But when the dinos got free, they started eating lysene rich foods like chicken and lima beans.
The same thing could happen with these cells; you set up a kill switch, but it either gets circumvented, or it fails completely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDe5Ckt4joQ
Is there a way to make this sound mundane in anyway
Because still this is fucking incredible.
hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
oh well
I wonder how well we could engineer symbiosis
shut up god dammit
it's tomorrow.
toodles
hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
Pretty much all of human culture is dictated by our adaptability. The common anchors in culture are based around things that we can't fully adapt to our own purposes - we all have basic biological processes, we all need to sleep, eat, shit and have sex to reproduce. We're all born, we grow up and we all eventually die.
In the far, far science-fiction future where we're able to control even some of those processes, our culture and society will inevitably change as this technology is developed and adapted. Potentially we could become a race that doesn't need to build cities or roads or change our environment to suit the limitations of our selves, but instead change ourselves to completely adapt to our environment. You wouldn't recognize those humans or their culture, because they wouldn't really be humans anymore.
More likely we'll just use it grow ourselves giant dongers though.
except for the hundred and fifty species that go extinct every day
Yeah guys, life is actually pretty fucking fragile
I wouldn't worry about something which has been created under very specific conditions going out of control
They should get better at living, you know branch out a little. Instead of only living on ONE FUCKING REDWOOD TREE IN THE WORLD
Other people can do whatever the hell they want to do, honestly
I can only control what I do
rocks, sticks, and our horribly irradiated pus-filled lumps?
well what?
but Ray Kurzweil says
but still, these questions are interesting to me
It all ends with Japanese Schoolgirls turning us into Tang.
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