As a synthetic biologist (read genetic engineer) {in Training}.
I can say that if evolution were to go its natural course, then no. The genes needed to jump from one branch of our shared interspecific tree are to diverse to arise from spontaneous mutation, and to specialized/eroded to develop from evolutionary pressure.
Annnnd that's where I and others like me come in. I ask you this. Why go backward, when you can go forward?
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Kind of how atomic bombs were made by people with the "strongest shall survive" and "science over all" mindset. You don't need to be a Ph.D. in STEM or a master theologian to see that our track record of doing something for scientific research is contorted into some shit that benefits the 1%.
Sources: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Doctors performing expirements on Chinese population during WW2 (unit 731), Holocaust experiments on Jews, US army testing the effects of radiation on their own live soldiers. And that's just to name a few.
In short, you don't have a choice between whether you're playing God or not, it's already being done and probably not for humanity's benefit. Just peer review history and it'll save you time from these debates.
You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner
Posted By OrangeBoy at 02:31 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Kind of how atomic bombs were made by people with the "strongest shall survive" and "science over all" mindset. You don't need to be a Ph.D. in STEM or a master theologian to see that our track record of doing something for scientific research is contorted into some shit that benefits the 1%.
Sources: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Doctors performing expirements on Chinese population during WW2 (unit 731), Holocaust experiments on Jews, US army testing the effects of radiation on their own live soldiers. And that's just to name a few.
In short, you don't have a choice between whether you're playing God or not, it's already being done and probably not for humanity's benefit. Just peer review history and it'll save you time from these debates.
Ah but you do have a choice. You can either standby hoping that whomever decides to play god doesn't screw it all up. Or you can sit down at the table and play god yourself.
Someones going to do it, may as well be you.
"Had to be me, Someonelse might have gotten it wrong"-Mordun Solus
Posted By Kyxsune at 11:44 PM - Sun Jun 04 2017
Posted By OrangeBoy at 02:31 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Kind of how atomic bombs were made by people with the "strongest shall survive" and "science over all" mindset. You don't need to be a Ph.D. in STEM or a master theologian to see that our track record of doing something for scientific research is contorted into some shit that benefits the 1%.
Sources: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Doctors performing expirements on Chinese population during WW2 (unit 731), Holocaust experiments on Jews, US army testing the effects of radiation on their own live soldiers. And that's just to name a few.
In short, you don't have a choice between whether you're playing God or not, it's already being done and probably not for humanity's benefit. Just peer review history and it'll save you time from these debates.
Ah but you do have a choice. You can either standby hoping that whomever decides to play god doesn't screw it all up. Or you can sit down at the table and play god yourself.
Someones going to do it, may as well be you.
"Had to be me, Someonelse might have gotten it wrong"-Mordun Solus
You can't play God because just like Icarus, if you decide to fly to new frontiers, you'll be burned down by laws that prohibit human cloning and experimentation involving embryos.
So what you contemplate the today, they've probably done a decade ago. Safe to say, the Poker table was full, and you weren't invited. Now it's empty since they're already done.
You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner
Posted By OrangeBoy at 02:54 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Posted By Kyxsune at 11:44 PM - Sun Jun 04 2017
Posted By OrangeBoy at 02:31 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Kind of how atomic bombs were made by people with the "strongest shall survive" and "science over all" mindset. You don't need to be a Ph.D. in STEM or a master theologian to see that our track record of doing something for scientific research is contorted into some shit that benefits the 1%.
Sources: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Doctors performing expirements on Chinese population during WW2 (unit 731), Holocaust experiments on Jews, US army testing the effects of radiation on their own live soldiers. And that's just to name a few.
In short, you don't have a choice between whether you're playing God or not, it's already being done and probably not for humanity's benefit. Just peer review history and it'll save you time from these debates.
Ah but you do have a choice. You can either standby hoping that whomever decides to play god doesn't screw it all up. Or you can sit down at the table and play god yourself.
Someones going to do it, may as well be you.
"Had to be me, Someonelse might have gotten it wrong"-Mordun Solus
You can't play God because just like Icarus, if you decide to fly to new frontiers, you'll be burned down by laws that prohibit human cloning and experimentation involving embryos.
So what you contemplate the today, they've probably done a decade ago. Safe to say, the Poker table was full, and you weren't invited. Now it's empty since they're already done.
On the contrary on two fronts. First human cloning may be illegal (pretty much everywhere) but chimera research is fair game everywhere but the US. Even in my lab we get to make chimera cells using mouse mitochondria.
On the second front, the game hasnt started yet. We are still building a toolkit for free gene editing and a chassi to use as a "compiler" that wont interfere with our inserted code. Also we don't have a great way to translate this to eukaryotes...yet.
Like the early days of the computer boom, and the deep learning boom were in now, we have yet to explore the space of what we can do with synthetic biology.
So sit down if you'd like, maybe get a beer, theres plenty of room at the table while we set up all the pieces.
You can make chimeras with animals that don't include humans, just like how people make glowing plants from firefly genes.
But playing God with human genes is still illegal on all fronts
You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner
Posted By OrangeBoy at 12:24 PM - Mon Jun 05 2017
You can make chimeras with animals that don't include humans, just like how people make glowing plants from firefly genes.
But playing God with human genes is still illegal on all fronts
We legally insert human genes into yeast cells along with samples from other animals in order to test cancer pathways. If that's playing god, then we are barely at the tic-tac-toe level.
Also, its very legal to grow human organs in other animals, like what their attempting to do for organ donors.
Posted By Kyxsune at 09:43 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Posted By OrangeBoy at 12:24 PM - Mon Jun 05 2017
You can make chimeras with animals that don't include humans, just like how people make glowing plants from firefly genes.
But playing God with human genes is still illegal on all fronts
We legally insert human genes into yeast cells along with samples from other animals in order to test cancer pathways. If that's playing god, then we are barely at the tic-tac-toe level.
Also, its very legal to grow human organs in other animals, like what their attempting to do for organ donors.
Again we were 1. talking about human chimeras and 2. you are talking about genes in yeast, not two animals conceived in a petri dish
You may have erased my signature, but you can't corner the dorner
Posted By OrangeBoy at 7:34 PM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Posted By Kyxsune at 09:43 AM - Mon Jun 05 2017
Posted By OrangeBoy at 12:24 PM - Mon Jun 05 2017
You can make chimeras with animals that don't include humans, just like how people make glowing plants from firefly genes.
But playing God with human genes is still illegal on all fronts
We legally insert human genes into yeast cells along with samples from other animals in order to test cancer pathways. If that's playing god, then we are barely at the tic-tac-toe level.
Also, its very legal to grow human organs in other animals, like what their attempting to do for organ donors.
Again we were 1. talking about human chimeras and 2. you are talking about genes in yeast, not two animals conceived in a petri dish
In that case, here you go
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/26/first-human-pig-chimera-created-in-milestone-study
My lab works at the cellular level, other work at the organismal level. Welcome to the future.
The lab I was working in regularly insert epileptic phenotype Gephyrin and other PSD protein malfunctions from human GPHN into mice. So, gene editing in regards to diseases or deleterious mutations cross species isn't really new or regarded as something fearful. Any evo/devo biologist is gonna tell you that doing this is best when your organism is at a unicellular level. So they're always gonna be in a petri-dish.
The question is always about the goal. What are you trying to achieve.
Then again, we've been playing god and selectively breeding and gene editing ever since we underwent an agricultural evolution, nowadays we're just less... messy and chaotic about it.
Anyone else still drooling over CRISPR/Cas? :D
