Only gamers and nutballs should fear minotaurs
Britain’s leading scientists have made a final plea for the right to create the first animal-human embryos for medical research using eggs taken from dead cows.
The issue is controversial because it involves scientists taking an animal egg, removing its genetic material and putting DNA from a human cell into it. This can be used to create lines of stem cells which can then be made part of studies into incurable genetic diseases such as motor neurone disease.
However, it has caused controversy as some campaigners and religious groups argue that it is unethical to mix human and animal cells in this way.
The Catholic Church has made clear its opposition. Bishops told the parliamentary committee scrutinising a draft bill to allow the research to go ahead, that they opposed the creation of any embryo solely for research – they believe that all life begins at conception. In a submission to the committee, they said: ‘At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and be treated accordingly.’
The legality of the procedure was affirmed in January. The predictable confrontation between science and the warriors of one or another god is now at full thunder and brimstone.
Hopefully, reason, objectivity and science shall prevail.
“Some of those “B” movies are classics.”
Well yeah, o’ cawse – I just get worried when people mistake ’em for documentaries… 🙂
sentient: Endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness
Close enough for me.
Re gorillas==good point, but same for most of the biosphere. It will be all gone in 50 years except for those that can live off our garbage. As a sentient being myself (unstructured consciousness and all) I find that sad, but I take hope in the near infinite maleability of the human speicies. I’m sure my grandkiddies will think “Who wants other animals around?–uycck!”
Gonna happens regardless of what we think==look at the trends and forces at play. Gee, we almost saved all the wild creatures, and then the ocean came up 80 feet. Who’d a thunk it?
#61 – LtG,
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was NOT a documentary??!!? Dang!! All those years of assuming it was …
#62 – bobbo,
Sentient is the word. It unfortunately doesn’t conjure the emotional impact that I’m looking for though. Perhaps that’s because so few people are sentient.
In 50 years, it will be an interesting question whether we are among the species that can “love off our garbage.” We don’t really know the extent to which the biosphere can be disturbed before resulting in a habitat in which we cannot survive either. I fail to be as optimistic about “the near infinite malleability of the human species.”
Thus far, we have not proven to be even malleable enough to limit our own numbers. I’ve got 30 years of life expectancy left. I’m hoping we can make it at least that long before the start of The Great Human Die-Off ™. If we don’t make it that long, I know I’ll be in the first wave. I’ll make sure of it. I’m way too dependent on modern medical technology and channels of distribution to live long past the first wave anyway. And, eating long pig isn’t for me.
As for whether some small number of humans will go on to allow the species to survive, albeit in much smaller numbers, who knows? I just hope when The Great Human Die-Off starts, we can take ourselves or most of ourselves off the planet with minimal destruction to other species.
>>Well, simply stated, 99% of people disagree with you.
Uh-oh. You’re on a slippery slope with the “majority rule” approach to ethics, Boboli.
>>A Pat Condell “ditto head”, as it were.
I wonder if Mr. Condell is troubled that many people are treating him like the Messiah of the 21st century.
#65 – MM,
When the messiah comes there will be peace. I’m scared to death of the messiah. Want to see a peaceful world? Look up on most clear nights. Want this planet to look like our beautiful moon? If not, then hope like hell or prey on your favorite deity that the messiah never comes. (Was that supposed to be pray to your favorite deity? I always get those mixed up.)
Aw, gee. I was really enjoying the mutual incomprehension created by people trying to be cute with words. You have to know what your audience understands, not try to be obscure so you can sneer at your audience for not being intelligent enough to understand deliberate obscurity. LOL.
Ah, well. I’m sure you’ll start up some other thread.
Misanthrop, my suggestion regarding using chimp embryos and stem cells was aimed at finding a way around the religious objections. I was not suggesting full term chimps.
61 – Lauren, the CSICOP group (ghost and psychic debunkers) found long ago that “documentaries” did not need to tell the truth. They were not considered “news”, but “entertainment”. Yup. Legally, they are fantasy.
#65 – MM, #66 – me
On this thread, the messiah, has shown him/her self in post #31.
Humans need to wake up and realize we are all just a bunch of chemicals. Once you realize that the sun, the moon, Earth, dirt, air, trees, cows, dogs, cockroaches, bacteria, anthrax, and humans are all made up of the same thing – atoms arranged in just the right way – a lot of things start falling into place and a certain calmness will set in. You no longer need religion to explain things or to use as an excuse for your bad luck or really bad choices. You no longer complain about silly things like your fast food order made by other piles of bad choice making chemicals, or what the weather is doing to your expensive grass or landscape that you are trying to keep alive in an environment it was never meant to grow in. Everything will become less important except the value of life. Everyone that is alive now and can think and reason should rejoice in knowing that they have won a “chemical lottery” and they should be happy.
#69 – JPritt,
Been through the Total Perspective Vortex have you?