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U.S. Denies Patent on Part-Human Hybrid
jimkski wrote to mention a Boston Globe story involving the refusal of a patent claim on a genetically engineered creature. From the article: "A New York scientist's seven-year effort to win a patent on a laboratory-conceived creature that is part human and part animal ended in failure Friday, closing a historic and somewhat ghoulish chapter in U.S. intellectual property law."
I'm not looking for a troll here, i'm just smoking some genetically engineered marijuana and it seems like an odd thought.
Humans are a subset of animals. Get it? It looks the article actually recognizes this, which is refreshing but rare. It's hard to even have a talk about important issues such as consciousness and genetics when we can't get even get passed a basic fact.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
But aren't a huge number of the alleles in the human genome patented already? It seems like this was done not because of a reasonable understanding on the part of the patent office that living creatures shouldn't be patentable, but purely because of the grossout factor. That's not a step forward.
In other words, he didn't own a multi-billion dollar corporation that could pay off the right people.
A patent application was denied! Wow! That is news!
While there may be issues of precedence in the US legal system, does precedence hold importance in the USPTO, particularly with regard to an "inaction" of not granting a patent?
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
The article rises an interesting question though. When do we cross over to the unpatentable? If we keep adding human genes to a mouse for what ever purpose, does the mouse eventually cross that line? I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of patented animals that contain human genes. I don't know if there are any that contain many human genes, but I would imagine that for some purposes that would be desirable. Of course there are about 40k genes in humans (last count I remember) so getting to a significant percentage is a long shot.
If a corporation attempts to patent much the same thing, it will be granted.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
If you think about it, this would be an extraordinarily contentious issue for a major segment of the population.
This made me wonder -- how much of the controversy about GE foods is based in science, and how much based in culture?
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
no I think the implication is that the pressure from the whacko-religious near-terrorist christian extremists would become to much to bear if the governament started patenting human-animal chimeras. It would errode the sacredicity of humanity by forcing them to move from their present all-or-nothing view humans, i.e. that thing god created first to an actual definition that would stand muster in a secular legal scope.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Fat lot of fucking good this decision did.
"I expect the Religious Right will end up getting steam-rolled over the genetic engineering issue"
Well American bible thumpers have a multipart strategy for countering the hordes of 7.5 feet tall Chinese with the 220 IQ:
- Nuclear weapons, lots of nuclear weapons, so if the good lord wont start the rapture they can give him(or her) a hand with an artificial one. The U.S. government is apparently starting work on two new warhead designs, in defiance of several efforts by Congress to stop it, one really big and one really small. If the Republican's hold power a little while longer its likely we will see them break the global test ban treaty and start firing off nukes again. The test ban will most likely land in the same dumper as the ABM treaty, and the Kyoto accords, and the Geneva conventions on treating prisoners, Geneve conventions on treating civilians in occupied countries, U.S laws against torture, U.S. laws on due process, and of course the Constitution.
- Missile defense, it probably doesn't work but if it did it would keep the super intelligent Chinese from shooting back
- Stamp out birth control and abortion. Most religions do everything in their power to maximize population growth to increase the size of their flock, even if it does mean massive overpopulation. The Chinese are, by contrast aggressively trying to control population growth so maybe the bible thumpers, given enough time can out breed and out number them. There will be irony if in the next big war there will be a billion American soldiers, praising Jesus, as they use human waves to overwhelm the tiny Chinese Army, big and intelligent though they may be.
If the Chinese do all develop 220 IQ's there is a chance they might all become extremely enlightened and liberal. That means they will probably unilaterally disarm, and will be reluctant to start a war.
In this area low IQ Americans have a huge advantage. They will bankrupt their country buying weapons, and more weapons, and they are willing to use them at a drop of a hat.
I guess I'm saying is its possible geneticly engineering, super intelligent Chinese might be sitting ducks for low IQ, bigoted, hate filled, bible thumping Americans, who'll push the button in the name of Jesus.
@de_machina
"I don't know: show me the ape which has conquered the planet, which has tamed the forces of nature, which thinks, and maybe I'll consider him my equal..."
Maybe you haven't noticed but great apes are for the most part polygamists, nudists, pacifists, vegetarians and environmentalists. Were it not for their insanely destructive, and apparently extremely dumb, homo sapien next of kin they would probably live a relatively idyllic life for eons.
Unfortunately their insanely destructive, and apparently extremely dumb, Homo Sapien next of kin, are most probably going to wipe them out in a genocidal campaign probably because they are both pacifists and apparently liberals. Not long after that there is a fair chance homo sapiens will turn the entire planet in to an unbearable hell hole, thanks to overpollution, global warming, clear cutting forests, overpopulation, war, starvation, etc.
"I'll consider him my equal"
I'm pretty sure the great apes would consider it a pretty serious slap in the face if Homo Sapiens were to be so pretentious as to even suggest they were as good as the great apes.
@de_machina
It's biblical fair use!