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UK Moves To Allow Human Hybrid Experiments
penguin_dance writes "The UK is apparently rethinking its ban on human hybrid experiments. If approved by regulators, '[t]he move opens the door to experiments involving every known kind of human-animal hybrid. These could include both "cytoplasmic" embryos, which are 99.9% human, and "true hybrids" carrying both human and animal genes.' Previous calls for an outright ban on all human-animal embryos outraged scientists, according to the article, who believe that 'work on human-animal hybrid embryos will greatly speed up progress in stem cell research.' The report claims there will be a provision for regulation of the research to incorporate any 'unforeseen developments.' Let the Island of Dr. Moreau comparisons begin!"
Woof! er..... I meant "Hi"
Bat boy!
Given my experience on most Friday nights, animal-women hybrids already exist.
I'm such a bitch...
Summation 2
I call dibs on the first of the Crab/Human hybrid.
(taste like crab, talk like people)
Reminds me of Patricia Piccinini, an Australian artist who made a a set of sculptures called "The Young Family".
http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/31/Patricia_Piccinini/249/
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The standard of science reporting is now so low that journalists should be deprived of access to modern medicine and technology until they do better, though given the usual standard of their education they would just end up banging rocks together and trying to brew cider from windfalls till the end of time.
Rant over, this is about hybrids between human beings and _other_ species. Nothing new. Visit any UK city centre on a Friday or Saturday night (don't forget flak jacket and bodyguards) and you will believe this kind of thing has been going on for years.
Pining for the fjords
Alright, lets just get this one out of the way: I, for one, welcome our new human-animal embryonic hybrid overlords!
That comment from G.W. Bush on human-animal hybrids was kind of dismissed as whimsical religious paranoia. However, maybe the man had a point after all.
The next generation of terrorists may have tentacles.
Table-ized A.I.
I have no problem with hybrid embryos for testing purpose as I don't mind abortion within the first trimester. But allowing a human hybrid to come to term (If possible) I am against. Stem cell research should be legal and funded by the government because it has the potential to cure MANY diseases.
When the X5s are ready.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
He is hung like a horse! No, I really mean it Tiffany!
30% off web hosting. Coupon code "SLASHDOT".
Yoko Ono's dream of having an octopus child may become a reality.
Table-ized A.I.
Spiderman is legal?
I bags the horse penis gene.
I for one welcome our new [insert zoo]-human-hybrid overlords.
Table-ized A.I.
Let me get this straight.....I can fuse a human with a shark, but I can't pop down to Game (even if I *am* watched on CCTV every step of the way) and pick up a copy of Manhunt 2?
Boy, am I glad I fled that crazy, crazy country for a saner place to live.
At last the species-dysmorphic among us will have some way of making things right. Plus it would be neat for those of us who like the idea of anthropomorphic animals.
Looks like the dogman is complaining about his "rights" again, get the gun.
Bart: god shmod. I want my monkey-man!
the human being and fish can coexist peacefully!
I think kdawson needs to find a better news source. The BBC reported this story more than a month ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6978384.stm
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
This is the first step towards in what I think, will be the next human revolution. It is only a matter of time before this was going to happen. The human has almost evolved naturally to what it can be, we are almost as tall as we can sustain. Genetic engineering will be the next evolution, it will take us past what we, the human race, can evolve to. But is the human race ready to abandon morality? If we can live for extended period of years will we still reproduce, or if we can replicate. If we do so, will be helping the human race become better by remaining here for long periods of time, or hinder it because less people means less diversity in the ways we think. Does science end, when we can manipulate, create, and destroy any form of matter?
...human-animal hybrids if he could have sharks with lasers? i, for one, opt for shark-technology hybrids!
I for one welcome our new half man, half bear, half pig overlords! At least Al Gore will be right about something for a change...
-- Sex is the antonym of pringles. Once you pop it's time to stop.
"Behold days are coming, says the Lord, and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with seed of man and seed of beasts."
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
they make the live action Thundercats movie. I can't wait to see the picture of Cheetara!
The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity....Calvin
The problems with this kind of research are ethical. So let us consider possible advantages. What is this research for?
a) Rare diseases. Many people die in poor countries because there is no proper health care. Why fund research with possibly far reaching ethical dilemmas that might one day cure some rare disease when there are millions to be saved?
b) Common causes of death. We now reach an average age of around 80. That's enough. There is no point in following Faust's example with the risk of getting us in troubled waters.
My conclusion: The disadvantages outway possible advantages. These outraged scientists (BTW, I am one, just in another field) just cry for more money. This line of research is not going to give us more insight into nature, nor is it morally acceptable at this point.
The furry are coming.
Resistance is futile.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Human-Animal hybrids are banned?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't humans.....animals?
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
"Your ass shall be seized in front of you, and it shall not be returned to you."
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
I bet the military would jump all over this if they could get some human/dog hybrids to sniff out terrorists, or human/eagle hybrids for enhanced eye sight, etc.
--"Forget the nectar of the Gods, just give me some Mountain Dew."
Here is one :
If ever such a hybrid would become sentient would he than be considered a Human and protected like you and me currently are, or do we than have our next generation of slaves (Who do not have any rights and are conveniently considered property, to do with as we like) ?
1. We're already experimenting with animals, including almost-humans (apes). They have similar self-appreciation, feelings, pain and confusion like you. We're only less sympathetic since they're not EXACTLY like us. But they are, in fact, more like us than we suspect.
2. Experimenting with human embyos, experimenting on people will dramatically further science and improve life for the rest of us (billions). It means we need to come to terms with the fact that humans are animals as any, and experimentation is required. But how do we do that without allowing for genocide? Not simple problem, but unless we solve it, we'll all be victims to save the few from being victims.
This has been going on in secret for years. How else do you account for Gordon Brown?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
I sense a great disturbance in the force... like a thousand raging furries just got one simultaneous hard-on... I for one welcome our new anthropomorphic overlords.
First post = troll. Cleverly worded post designed to enrage others = flamebait.
Why was it banned in the first place? Evolution seems to have many twists.
I'd buy an animal-woman hybrid if they can produce the body of a teenage girl with the brain of say a cat. Finally a date that is impressed by going to a buffet and that just wants to go home and spend some time licking and petting.
Okay - so I'm married now so I guess I couldn't buy one. I just don't think my wife would let me keep a pet that looked human and especially not one that tended towards being an attractive nude female. It'd be awful hard to explain to the kids too.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Recently we had the case of journos talking up Craig Venter's research as producing "artificial life". I had to read his own original comments to see that he never made that claim, and in fact his own comments agreed with my own Slashdot posting on the subject.
Science is not common speech, and attempts to make it so result in misunderstanding and sensationalism. I don't know who modded this "informative" (presumably the same people who moderated me "overrated" because that doesn't get metamoderated, but whoever you are, you clearly know diddly squit about biology.
Pining for the fjords
Now we can have a Clueless American Slashdotter Idiocyfest.
"I'm Barf, half-Dog and half-Man. I'm my own best friend!"
-
As a young boy, my childhood dream was to become a dragon.
Sure, some might have called me a crazy dreamer.
But now hopefully with this new research they are conducting it will one day become a reality.
http://www.egyptgiftshop.com/images/papyrus/paintings/horus3_large.jpg/
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Well over 50 years ago a British author, wrote of the angst of slave owning and the first requirement of de-humanizing the property. Migrant workers, mine workers, homeless, illegal immigrants; they make us uncomfortable to the degree we find them human and worthy of sympathy. And to the degree we think them less than ourselves, we de-humanize ourselves. In Cordwainer's world, the lovely C'mell helps a young man find his humanity at the expense being a member of the overlords. On the other hand it was genetically enhanced apes that won in a different world.
Makes you wonder where they draw the line on zoophilia. Will a 95% guy with 5% horse genes (yes, right there..) be able to legally fsck a 68% girl with a pony-tail?
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
im liberal, im humanist, im netizen, im even new ager, kind of hippie, but thats way too much. WAY too much.
Read radical news here
The government has been experimenting with pig-men since the 50's.
Should we just rename Earth to Rapture right now and get it over with?
Seriously though, I think if we get into these waters we may end up triggering some kind of genetic arms race- I can't even imagine.
I also agree with some other posters- don't we have bigger medical crises to spend money on? How about clean drinking water and fighting malaria in Africa?
Is this really a question of ethics, or just fueling our beliefs that our beloved pets must have emotions/souls? By imposing our own human mannerisms on top of their default primal, instict-driven, action-reaction behavioral patterns, we delude ourselves into thinking our pets would really bother to think twice about eating you alive if the "easier" food sources suddenly became scarce. Sure, you might be able to stop one of them, before the main course starts, but not without enduring a decent amount of damage to your flesh.
So, big man... do your ethics of convenience come back after you committed yourself to snapping the necks of puppies and kittens to sustain your own wellbeing?
8==8 Bones 8==8
We spend multiple millions of years crawling out of the primordial ooze to walk on two legs, develop opposable thumbs and a brain large enough to create a civilization that dominates our planet, and now we're gonna start going BACKWARDS? What the hell were the last several million years of evolution for?
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
The report claims there will be a provision for regulation of the research to incorporate any 'unforeseen developments.'
It's Ripley with a flame thrower.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
This is just further proof that everyone on Second Life is a nerd.
The fate of mankind is ib the hands of the creativly maladjust...
1) BBC (once a trusted institution) caught fabricating programming, not to mention what the other broadcasters get up to. 2) Crime massively on the rise, with no police action, they are too busy pulling over the sensible middle class for driving 40 MPH in a 35MPH zone. 3) BBC cutting 2500 staff, mainly in 'Factual Programming'. See item 1). 4) Extremist entities being given more airtime than others who have a more constructive and honest message. 5) General massive dumbing down of our society with a focus on replacing ethics with hard wired technology and business before democracy. Those living in the UK who care will understand what I mean. What is ironic, is that most of the complex illnesses that these hybrids may or may not cure are caused by our lifestyles. Just look at all the cancer causing materias in the typical household cupboard. Not to mention the polutants in our environment, such as PCBs etc. Let's tackle the cause, not spend billions fixing things. IMHO!
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
Firstly CCTV everywhere, then ID Cards and now we're even creating Human hybrids like Hitler's human-dog experiments!
"and i for one, welcome our new hybrid overlords..."
I swear this is already taking place. My ex-wife is a Harpy.
...since 60% of my genes are the same of those of a drosophila (fruit flies). BTW I also share 90% of my genes with mouses, not to mention that 98% with chimpanzees. I also have 30% of the genes of yeast, which makes of me a human/fungi hybrid I guess.
No really, people using terms like "human/animal hybrid" or "chimera" when talking about DNA modifications are probably trying to scandalise more than inform.
Afterall, I went to law school with Irving Spiderman.
Nice guy.
who read this and heard John Candy in their head saying, "I'm a Mog... half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend."
Okay, I'm going back to my cave now.
Take the issue of human-animal hybrids, for instance. While we are both probably okay with a little stem cell research and a few gene insertions, I find the idea of making more and more hybridized human-animals a really horrible idea, but you don't. Why? Maybe I just don't like change, especially this kind of fundamental change that will shake society to its foundations. Maybe I just don't see that the supposed benefits would outweigh the ethical problems. Maybe I like being unique. Maybe we have enough problems without creating another kind of life to exploit. You, on the other hand...maybe you've secretly got your fingers crossed hoping this research will someday lead to the development of a tentacled plant-like love-beast, or maybe you see biotech as part of the march of progress toward the Kurtzweilian Singularity. Who knows. All I know is...if the Singularity ressurrects me from dirt in 1000 years as a crazy tentacled, part-horse hybrid InfoMorph, I'm going to be pissed, Akira style. Let me lie, please. Or, at least ask my permission at the time.
I'm fully in favor of genetic experimentation on genetic experimenters.
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
...the furries are going to love this.
Coming to you live from another dimension.
Yiff in hell.
don't be pussies!
Our evolution depends on our technology. I think we are to evolve ourselves through all this fun stuff.. "cyber enhancements" to bio-engineering.. bring it. To be afraid of creating new strains of human/animal hybrids makes for a boring world.
If were going to have to battle off any cylons or strogg... first we need to make them! w00t
Kill your TV
'nuff said!
You say: "Know why Jesus was sexy?"
Everyone says "why?"
You put your arms out to either side, fingers curled inwards, and say "coz he was hung like *this*."
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
And i thought we had enough lawyers
Those who don't learn from Dark Angel are doomed to repeat it...
What a sensationalist headline. The reality of this research is that it's already occurring. For many years we have been trying to create animals with human organs so that tests can be done.
Ages ago when I was still in elementary school I remember a fund drive to buy mice that could grow human tumors. Recently they created mice with human livers and I remember a story about pigs with human blood (just think, disease free blood of any blood type, no transfusion risk because the pigs could be kept in a disease free environment, and no need to keep a huge storage of spoiling human blood). This is the human-animal hybrid used in research, it's still a mouse, it's just got human organs instead of mice organs. With a full hybrid, such as I listed (a mouse with all human organs) drug research can be done without the risks of harming people. Current drug trials on animals don't accurately predict the effects because the metabolism is different. Many more drugs could be tried with much more accurate predictions of success without moving to the phase 3 human trials. This eliminates the risk to people and it helps drug companies bring better drugs to market quicker.
But hey, in some states in the US is is legal to buy genetically modified fish that glow under a black light (http://www.glofish.com/). I have heard that in CA they are banned. So I guess some day we will have genetically modified dogs and cats that can talk, so we know what they are thinking.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
If the experimenters get to torture and kill these 99.9% humans, does that mean that we get to have a slave race?
> Well over 50 years ago a British author
Cordwainer Smith was a University of Pennsylvania professor, writing under pseudonym, of course. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not anywhere in Britain.
BTW, I think that underpeople were made by manipulating animal DNA rather than fusing in human DNA. This is why the 7th Reich was able to make robots to hunt down and kill them.
Even your average mentally retarded person is much smarter than apes or dolphins. In fact, the average mentally retarded person is even capable of posting on Slashdot. It's true that the animals you mention show signs of intelligence- and as a result most people have problems experimenting on or eating them. Why do you think we have 'Dolphin Safe' tuna, but not 'Shark Safe' or 'Other Fish Safe' Tuna? Dolphins aren't much cuter than fish, but they are obviously much more intelligent.
All life has value, but some life is more valuable than others. Even plants have the ability to perceive their environment, communicate, and adapt, but you're not advocating we shouldn't eat plants.
There are a few humans who are so mentally disabled that parrots and dolphins are smarter than they are. (Terri Schiavo would be the best-known example). It's very hard to argue that they are human in any sense other than genetically. Our legal and ethical system are (and should be) designed to give genetic humans the benefit of the doubt, however. Since more than 99.99% of living genetic humans are smarter than any non-human animal we've seen, it makes sense to assume that all genetic humans are until proven otherwise. (Technically small human infants know less than a mature dolphin, but they are still smarter, since they can learn information faster. By the same token, dolphins are smarter than my computer- my computer may have more information stored than a dolphin's brain does, but it's incapable of learning like a dolphin can). Posting Anon because I've already moderated in this discussion.
> UK Moves To Allow Human Hybrid Experiments
Ha! Contrary to America-haters' bitchin' about George W. Bush, rural America has been engaged in human animal hybrid experiments for generations.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
ahhhhh...The line between reality and Planet of the Apes becomes a little bit smaller!
. . . That if one of our family members is an animal hybrid that they'll be more apt to pee on the carpet and when they do I can rub their face in it and tell them, "NO!"?
. . . That they'll be more apt to eat their own feces?
. . . that the children will be more apt to have a tail?
. . . the end of the world is coming?
We didn't evolve "better-than": we evolved "different-to". Sure, we are better at some things, but many animals are better than us at other things. wouldn't you want the best of both worlds?
Just look at what Monsanto and the rest do and tell me that more good will come out of it than bad. They always say things like "we're going to feed/heal/save the world" with this, but when you look at what they actually do, they are lying (or not telling the full truth).
There are zillions of things that are possible to research. Given the limited resources we have, there are far better things to spend it on than this.
Just because something is possible doesn't mean it should be done yet. Perhaps it should be done much later. Or perhaps it shouldn't be done at all.
Example of stuff that shouldn't be done for a long time (if ever) - say there's technology to give everyone the power to kill everyone else (give everyone an antimatter power supply). If there are billions of people what are the odds of someone deciding to just kill everyone else? Your options would be extinction or restraining lots of people against their will.
Maybe in the future this hybrid thing would be good, but I find it hard to believe that people would do much good with this right _now_.
There are plenty of inventions in the past that we would have done better without.
As more and more things become possible, we should start really thinking hard on what our priorities should be. Assuming that the free market will take care of it all is foolishness.
hahaha
For a minute I was thinking about "Ripley's Believe-it-or-not storing the humanimal hybrids", but still well played.
You should be modded higher.
thought about by a master:
Cordwainer Smith
ps yes i'm anon; i'm at work and i hate sign-ups. So karma-mod away... but still read this incredible story.
Or at the very least, it could have already happened.
:)
Those of you able to peer into Earth's history and tell us exactly what has happened in the past, please, be silent, you're input is not welcome (and entirely based on anecdotal evidence).
I need to state a premise, essential to understanding what I suggest as *possible* - while we can observe the Earth (and all it contains) as it exists today, and infer from such observation what the past may have been like, we are simply making educated guesses. Fair enough? Sometimes they are fairly accurate (based on further educated guesses which correlate with previous guesses), sometimes they are shown to be utter fallacy. I am not suggesting we cannot know anything about the past, nor that what we think we know is entirely wrong; I am simply saying, by the very nature of science, what we do know is not known with absolute certainty.
Now, I admit, I have quite the imagination. Does anyone recall the first episode of Futurama, when Fry becomes frozen and life on earth rises and falls several times? It isn't a huge stretch to relate such a scenario to our current lives, which at any moment could become completely irrelevant in a nuclear winter. Did such fluctuations in living creature populations occur in Earth's past?
The idea of a chimera, the human/animal, is very old indeed, stretching far into antiquity, probably beyond written record. Where it originates is anyone's "educated guess", but is it so difficult to consider the possibility that, perhaps, we did mix human and animal genes in the past? If so, were the results good? Or is there a reason they are creatures generally feared, and no longer exist? It would explain why such creatures appear in ancient myths and writings. Of course, a great imagination can also account for that
Of course, there are logistical barriers, such as how to isolate genes. But consider this: even though ancient civilizations hadn't amassed the knowledge base, and access to it, that we currently have, they still accomplished incredible, imaginative, sometimes unbelievable feats. Is there only one way of creating a chimera? Is it possible they could have devised their own method for combining human and animal genes into a single living being?
Consider another possibility - besides total (or near total) destruction of civilization, there have also been several set-backs. The Library of Alexandria comes to mind. What if next week, we were set back 1000-2000 years because of massive wars, pandemics, natural disasters, or any other life-altering catastrophe which has been shown to occur in the past? Where would we be, how would we survive? Would our children believe us when we told them of automobiles and televisions and computers and electricity and cell phones? Were the disaster great enough, all this and more would become completely useless, irrelevant, and forgotten. In two to three generations humans would have nearly forgotten our great Information Age, lost in "myth" and legend. Ha, if we lost 200 years we'd be farming again! And who knows what shape civilization would take after such an event? Does anyone truly believe that such a scenario is beyond possibility?
I am not proposing this as truth revealed. I'm simply saying that the idea of combining animals and people certainly isn't novel, and while we can deduce all we like, we will never know the absolute truth. The simple fact that they are so saturated throughout human history tells me that it is a possibility to consider in a universe where almost anything is possible.
Or vivisection. Or human-embryo hybridization. The human race has survived for quite a while without these technologies so far. Why do we need them by next Thursday, ethical downsides be damned?
Just a thought. I know it's radical. Call me crazy.
Oh, who am I kidding? Just press X to Harvest. It's not a real little girl, is it? I trust Atlas.
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
If they're half human though I might feel bad eating it.
Where's your silly version of ethics now?
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate