Article in WAPO about research making part pig, part human to grow organs. Pretty funny line about activists objecting to harming pigs and the author points out that "billions are eaten each year."
I got a mental picture of my 20 year old body picking up a girl at a bar; now I'm sprinting around a parking lot with a hard on because my 65 year old brain can't remember where I parked my car.
Cloning just makes a physical copy of something; but that doesn't make it a real copy. The cloned dog is like picking two puppies that look alike out of the same litter. One will be easy to house train and always chase cats; the other will piss in your shoe and love the cat. Same with people; identical twins not identical people. That doesn't worry me. At this point cloned beef doesn't worry me as long as its filet medium rare. BUT, like any technology there is the potential for great good, great evil, and the obligatory unintended consequences. There is potential for great good as in Bengal's funny but possible post about everyone's desire for a new young body. Making new human body replacement parts has great potential. Great evil is limited only by your imagination and for research read lots of science fiction. Everything from armies of brainless robot soldiers to armies of brainless cheerleader sex slaves - yes Tiga that WOULD be a bad thing. But this is something we can deal with. Its the unintended consequences that will bite us on the ass. The genie is out of the bottle and it will be used, we just have to do the best we can to control it and be ready for where it takes us.
Hey, I don't have a good answer why people keep a jar of cat ashes on the mantle. Cloning a dead pet I would guess is like living a fantasy that little Fluffy the Puppy's memories are real - -I don't know because I don't get it. BUT the real answer us that someone with $100,000 is willing to pay. And if no one will make them a clone for $100,000 they are willing to pay more. The wooly mammoth one actually interests me. Why grow mold in a petri dish? Because one day someone will use it to cure STDs. Why explore gene make up? Because one day it will lead to cures for genetic diseases. Cistic fibrosis and sick cell anemia are caused by mutations in a single gene - that has possibilities of finding a cure or at least something to lessen the impact. Even heart disease and diabetes have genetic components. The possibility is that we may be able to cure the root cause of the disease not just deal with the symptoms.
I get the part about some rich dingleberry cloning his or her favorite pet. But this facility has 600 cloned dogs onsite living in laboratories. I also don't like the idea of them just using females as production lines for clones. This is no way for dogs to live. This is just a lab coat Michael Vick scenario. The mamouth thing does interest me as well, but what do they use as the host? An elephant?
I did not read the article. Totally agree with you on all of this. Love the Vick ref. I'm not good with using an elephant as a mammoth host either. They are going to need to develop a artificial womb to grow these special clones in.
