From: Andrew Priest [mailto:apriest_at_netidea.com]
> It's a nice thought, isn't it? That but with
> some human DNA and some skunk DNA you could
> do the magic mixing thing and make a living
> version of the trio. I do, however, fear it
> wouldn't work that way.
As you say it depends on the technical sophistication of the scientists/engineers doing the mixing. It would be possible (in theory) to do exactly this and for it to work if you put some 'adaptor' genes in at the same time. But it would probably be easier for them to just design from scratch as you say. Eitherway you would not end up with beings that resembled the sunk sisters precisely either in appearance or behaviour.
> If the scientists feel that the result of
> such a crude fusion of human and animal
> DNA is an abomination, well, I'd not be
> surprised if it was.
A malformed embryo, fetus, or infant is not something to be reguarded with hatred or loathing, which is the meaning of the word 'abomination'. The intent to deliberately create such malformed creatures as an end in it self might be reguarded as evil, and hence viewed with loathing, but is as nothing compaired to all the other socially acceptable evils committed in the world and is in any case another issue.
> Even if be some lucky chance you ended
> up with a viable organism, what would you
> have achieved if you produced some freakish
> thing that barely ekes out some months of
> horrible existence before finally succumbing
> to the inevitable conclusion;
Well for a start you'd have gotten a lot further than many human parents do. Hopefully you'd have learnt enough to stop it from happening again too.
> Contrary to popular Sci-Fi movies you
> could not change the DNA of a developed
> organism
Um, is this like 'the world cannot be round' or 'man cannot fly' or 'you cannot get to the moon'? I thumb my nose at you sir for believing such nonsense. There is no practical upper limit to what can be done, merely increasingly difficult obstacles. Performing such a task would probably be significantly harder than moving the Great Pyramids at Giza, but possible marginally easier than breaking the light barrier.
ANTIcarrot.
Received on Fri Aug 08 2003 - 08:29:50 CDT