Slashdot Mirror
The Chimera Dilemma Manifested in Sheep
Rollie Hawk writes "While many limits on stem cell research exist in the United States, scientist are finding wants to straddle or at least blur the line between man and animal. It's not quite The Island of Doctor Moreau, but it's bringing a pantheon of ethical dilemmas, nonetheless.
The creation of chimeras, named for the mythical beast composed of parts from several different animals, has been in the news off and on for the last few months. The latest case involves around 50 sheep said to possess at least partially human organs.
These heavily modded sheep are growning human-like organs such as livers, hearts, and blood. All of these could eventually be close enough to the real thing to be harvested as replacements parts.
If that doesn't shock you, consider one other human organ that is being grown in some of these sheep: human brains. While it is doubtful that anyone would want a brain transplant from a human-sheep chimera, it does hold the possibility for doing brain research that would never be allowed on human beings.
That is, unless, the brains end up being too human. Just the possibility of a human mind bouncing around inside a sheep's head is a scary proposition."
But I want a bird brain you insensitive clod !!
Well, the wife never complained when she found I was part horse.
What has the world came to?
Haven't we done that? Timothy is a living example of a Sheep grown brain transplanted into a human ;-)
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
I've seen several versions of this article recently, and have been resisting (until..uh..now) asking a question:
If I slaughter and eat one of the sheep am I guilty of cannibalism?
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
I thougt I got picked on at school .. At least I didn't have a sheep's body!
Joking aside, can you imagine a sheep with almost human intelligance? Man, that is freaky. Perfect fodder for horror movies, though.
That Skittles got to this story first. FYI: Skittles has been playing a commercial with two sheep with human heads are eating Skittles. They comment on how they could manage to cross two completely different flavors into one candy.
Here I am, a brain the size of a sheep's skull
While it is doubtful that anyone would want a brain transplant from a human-sheep chimera
It would explain how the Patriot Act and the DCMA got passed.
Ba dump bump! Thanks, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitresses.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
"Liiisssaaaa, don't eeeaaatttt meeeeee."
:)
If you kill it, it'll stop creeping you out by talking.
Anyone remember the song, "Cows With Guns"?
Just try and let that freak sheep mutant get near me with my opposable thumbs and a large caliber handgun.
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
"Stanford law professor Hank Greely, who chaired the ethics committee, said the board was satisfied that the size and shape of the mouse brain would prevent the human cells from creating any traits of humanity. Just in case, Greely said, the committee recommended closely monitoring the mice's behavior and immediately killing any that display human-like behavior."
OK, I can just see it now:
"Same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to take over the" [splat!]
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
That Skittles got to this story first. FYI: Skittles has been playing a commercial with two sheep with human heads are eating Skittles.
Available on their site, quicktime or windows media: Taste the sheep boys.
I miss the beautifull surreal skittle ads, the creepifying ones don't make me want to eat their stuff: I might get the same horrible nightmare vision they do.
You can't take the sky from me...
Why isn't this in the hardware section?
...
Stupid editors
Injecting human DNA into sheep is nothing new to lonely shepherds..
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
In Soviet Russia, the sheep count you!
please change me. - sig
I agree. It's shear lunacy.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
and sheep have many uses
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
The real threat isn't sheep with human brains, it's cows with guns
Just what the US electorate needs, more sheep...
omg! Insightful? Since when do farmers have mod points on /.?
City Gent -- Good afternoon.
Rustic -- Afternoon.
City Gent -- A lovely day isn't it.
Rustic -- Eh, 'tis that.
City Gent -- You here on holiday or...?
Rustic -- Nope, I live 'ere.
City Gent -- Oh, jolly good too. (surveys field; he looks puzzled) I say, those are sheep aren't they?
Rustic -- Ar.
City Gent -- Yes, yes of course, I thought so...only...er why are they up in the trees?
Rustic -- A fair question and one that in recent weeks has been much on my mind. It's my considered opinion that they're nesting.
City Gent -- Nesting?
Rustic -- Ar.
City Gent -- Like birds?
Rustic -- Ar. Exactly. Birds is the key to the whole problem. It's my belief that these sheep are laborin' under the misapprehension that they're birds. Observe their behavior. Take for a start the sheeps' tendency to 'op about the field on their back legs. (off-screen baa-ing) Now witness their attempts to fly from tree to tree. Notice that they do not so much fly as...plummet. (sound of sheep plummeting) Observe for example that ewe in that oak tree. She is clearly trying to teach her lamb to fly. (baaaaaa...thump) Talk about the blind leading the blind.
City Gent -- But why do they think they're birds?
Rustic -- Another fair question. One thing is for sure; a sheep is not a creature of the air. They have enormous difficulty in the comparatively simple act of perchin'. (crash) As you see. As for flight, its body is totally unadapted to the problems of aviation. Trouble is, sheep are very dim. Once they get an idea in their heads, there's no shifting it.
City Gent -- But where did they get the idea from?
Rustic -- From Harold. He's that sheep there over under the elm. He's that most dangerous of animals, a clever sheep. He's the ring-leader. He has realized that a sheep's life consists of standing around for a few months and then being eaten. And that's a depressing prospect for an ambitious sheep. He's patently hit on the idea of escape.
City Gent -- Well why don't you just get rid of Harold?
Rustic -- Because of the enormous commercial possibilities should he succeed.
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Denis Diderot
Go hug some trees.