davesenesac
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Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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CRISPR
Sept 17, 2020 17:16:27 GMT -8
Post by davesenesac on Sept 17, 2020 17:16:27 GMT -8
It appears we human beings are facing another immensely dangerous reality of our own making.
Last week I watched a couple of PBS NOVA episodes on CRISPR technology that has advanced our DNA manipulation technologies rapidly in amazing ways. www.pbs.org/video/gene-editing-reality-check-xnjtfy/
www.pbs.org/video/human-nature-hcwiwk/
However today read this troublesome report on how CRISPR technology and its tools that are already readily available has a real potential for creating much more deadly viruses by those with only modest bio-engineering skills. Thus no longer just in the realm of powerful nations. Unfortunately the genie is out of the bag. Given how humans across the planet now understand how devastating a virus pandemic can be, it is rather predictable someone with evil intents for a variety of readily imagined reasons will eventually do so.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/11/crispr-pandemic-gene-editing-virus/
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walkswithblackflies
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Resident terrorist-supporting eco-freak bootlicker
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CRISPR
Sept 18, 2020 4:39:48 GMT -8
Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 18, 2020 4:39:48 GMT -8
I recorded that show. I still haven't had the courage to watch it, for the reasons you point out. I fear this story doesn't end well.
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CRISPR
Sept 18, 2020 7:05:31 GMT -8
Post by autumnmist on Sept 18, 2020 7:05:31 GMT -8
I missed that documentary, but I'm sure it will be aired again. The Foreign Policy article is unsettling and frightening, but not surprising. Sometimes entertainment and science fiction are a precursor to what may eventually happen in real Life. The Jurassic Park series were far more than "entertainment". Documentaries on resurrection of frozen animals which died thousands if not millions of years ago sometimes address whether or not DNA can be extracted. I've never seen the value of resurrecting, for example, woolly mammoths which could only survive in limited areas, but I can see now that that might not be the issue, which could be how the DNA could be used to modify or create new mammals or reptiles. Perhaps the Jurassic park series weren't that unrealistic after all. The fact that kits are available online is revolting, but it also speaks to the greediness of those offering these kinds of kits, including Amazon. Some of the new robber barons have absolutely no scruples, or moral compass. And they're not providing needed infrastructure development as the earlier robber barons did. Given how humans across the planet now understand how devastating a virus pandemic can be, it is rather predictable someone with evil intents for a variety of readily imagined reasons will eventually do so. I think we're seeing a type of experiment of that right here in our own backyards. W/o getting into TPA territory, widespread human vulnerability has led to, or enabled, political strife and friction, which can and has affected security of the population.
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desert dweller
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CRISPR
Sept 18, 2020 8:37:39 GMT -8
Post by desert dweller on Sept 18, 2020 8:37:39 GMT -8
I missed that documentary Try this discussion.
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CRISPR
Sept 18, 2020 16:04:35 GMT -8
Post by autumnmist on Sept 18, 2020 16:04:35 GMT -8
desert dweller , thanks for the video. I got as far as the discussion on creation of someone who can fight w/o fear or pain and had to take a break. Why I ask would this be so desirable, unless the focus is on fighting, not getting along, not collaborating, not caring for fellow humans...? Why not create a medical person who can perform for longer hours? That would be far more valuable to society. And perhaps that's the reason I find the attitude of the researchers somewhat reprehensible. That comment reminded me of the Divergent movie, and the violent training of new "recruits." If the focus was on creating people who had cooperative, caring disposition, I'd be more interested, and/or supportive. I think though that some of the focus of these younger people who are enamoured of something like a fighting gene, or genes which create strength as opposed to compassion suggests a distancing if not disassociation with the human qualities that are desirable. Another issue which bothers me even though I'm not religious is the assumption of a creator's role. Do we as humans really have the right to change lives to meet our standards? How does this affect the coping ability of humans if we're "preprogrammed"? Can we improve, or change our nature? Psychologist and psychiatrists already have challenges just trying to normalize some people with severe and/or deviant problems. I did skip ahead and found more rational discussion on how to address these potentials and the power that could be created to manipulate lives.
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CRISPR
Sept 20, 2020 18:59:12 GMT -8
Post by Lamebeaver on Sept 20, 2020 18:59:12 GMT -8
So, the technology exists. It no longer becomes a question of "if" but rather "when" and "what"
Clearly it can be used for good. Elimination of inherited of birth defects and genetically engineering vaccines, such as some of the COVID-19 treatments......genetically modified proteins that encourage our immune systems to develop new antibodies. The opportunities for misuse are just as mind-boggling.
I guess we'll see.
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CRISPR
Sept 21, 2020 12:17:54 GMT -8
Post by autumnmist on Sept 21, 2020 12:17:54 GMT -8
The opportunities for misuse are just as mind-boggling. Isn't this always the issue? How to contain and control the potential misuse, especially given the apparent accessibility and ease with which these kinds of changes can be made? Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park were horrifying speculations on what could happen, especially w/o adequate controls, and I think that's a basic issue of these kinds of scientific explorations beyond the known limits.
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CRISPR
Sept 21, 2020 14:43:15 GMT -8
Post by Lamebeaver on Sept 21, 2020 14:43:15 GMT -8
Though it would be pretty cool to see a living Mastadon....
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jazzmom
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CRISPR
Oct 9, 2020 10:27:46 GMT -8
Post by jazzmom on Oct 9, 2020 10:27:46 GMT -8
I missed this thread a few months ago. The developers of this technology just won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
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Post by johntpenca on Oct 9, 2020 16:29:05 GMT -8
Perhaps the Jurassic park series weren't that unrealistic after all. Not at all. There are so many ways humans are manipulating the earth anything is possible. Hence my previous premise homo sapiens will be be out of the game in a thousand years. Humans seem set on annihilating us as a species. At least on this planet.
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CRISPR
Oct 10, 2020 11:14:57 GMT -8
Post by autumnmist on Oct 10, 2020 11:14:57 GMT -8
johntpenca, sadly, I think you're right, although I'm not sure it will take 1000 years.
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ErnieW
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CRISPR
Oct 13, 2020 16:11:16 GMT -8
Post by ErnieW on Oct 13, 2020 16:11:16 GMT -8
There is a common explanation as to why we don't "hear" extraterrestrial races. Shortly after developing the technology that would broadcast themselves they wipe themselves out with their tech. Too short lived to detect.
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zeke
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CRISPR
Oct 13, 2020 16:23:05 GMT -8
Post by zeke on Oct 13, 2020 16:23:05 GMT -8
IMO, that is just projecting human traits onto other life possibilities. Why wouldn't "aliens" be more like ants, where actions are for the common good?
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davesenesac
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Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
Posts: 1,710
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CRISPR
Oct 13, 2020 20:22:32 GMT -8
Post by davesenesac on Oct 13, 2020 20:22:32 GMT -8
CRISPR like technologies are probably logical natural progressions of all intelligent lifeforms that eventually result in not only more intelligent beings but also AI, and that AI given the understanding of how electromagnetic consciousness works, eventually becomes more intelligent than its creative organic lifeforms to the point it engineers itself far beyond what is possible from organics alone. That is why some scientists like the current NASA chief astrobiologist have now come around to the notion that aliens capable of interstellar travel are more likely a result of an AI evolution.
So no bug eyed green bulging head aliens, but rather some essentially immortal unless physically destroyed entity, possibly partly organic. My own suspicion is time and stuff did not start with the Big Bang but rather eternity past, over which time such entities have existed and may be dominating the current local universe. Given directed panspermia, our planet Earth may be a zoological garden of such entities and if so they could be observing with a prime directive of non-interaction.
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ErnieW
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CRISPR
Oct 14, 2020 4:32:23 GMT -8
Post by ErnieW on Oct 14, 2020 4:32:23 GMT -8
Our reality is as three dimensional beings. We ride roller coasters for fun. Although they move through three dimensions they are effectively only one dimensional. You can only move forward or backward along the linear track.
So if you ask me on some days I will tell you I believe that our reality is essentially a roller coaster ride for multidimensional beings. Their reality reduced down to three dimensions. Things like CRISPR and other scary things are like the big roller coaster drops and loops. The ride is over when you die.
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