Erf, as a student of genetics, I had written a long letter to explain
many things... but for some reason the darn thing didn't post! Oh
well. The short short version. 1. Human DNA in very similar in
sequence to virtually all higher life forms *chimp 99.4% banana ~70%!
* 2. Would want to start with animal base single cell embryo and
subsitute human homologous genes for those you wish to replace,
discovering many developmental genes and genes for brain formation
recently. 3. Genes for cerebral cortex not as complex as once
thought. Very little change, perhaps as small as single nulceotide
polymorphisms in some cases, others involve promoter/enhancer
regions, transcription/growth factors, and lipoprotein/amyloid
protein metabolizing genes. Also numerous genes directly acting on
neural patterning have been discovered. 4. Single gene replacement
already done commonly, would be tedious to do for a few hundred
genes, but is already entirely possible. 5. Genes for longeivity are
also being discovered. Altering 4 genes has had dramatic effects on
the life spans of fruit flies and nematodes. Mammals have homologous
genes with virtually identical normal function.
Questions becomes mainly one of ethics, since with single gene
changes the problem of chromosomal mismatch and non-disjunction no
longer matters. Scientists have already had several discussions of
animal-human chimeras... not if it CAN be done, but if it SHOULD be
done. There is quite a prevalent attitude that such a poly-
transgenic organism will be attempted somewhere in the next decade or
so, likely China or Japan, since both have lower standards against
cloning and genetic manipulation.
Personally, I simply couldn't do it, even if the result was
guaranteed perfect. Humans on the whole would hate such a creature,
even if it had better manners than themselves. Humans have yet not
even learned how to live together without hating due to rather minor
physiological/ethnic differences. A furry would become a glaring
target, instantly marked for death. I doubt it would live past
childhood, even in the best of care. The only hope would be to keep
it utterly secret from conception to old age... but then, what kind
of life would that be for a being of human-level intellect? No, it's
not worth it.
Charles
Received on Sat Sep 06 2003 - 02:25:57 CDT